WORLD'S MEAT INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 18

WORLD'S M EAT INDUSTRY.

THE SHEEP. AND ITS PRODUCTS. INTERESTING FACTS. (From Odk Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 16. The second of the Cantor lectures o» " The Meat Industry " was given this week by Mr Loudon M. Douglas before the Royal Society of Arts, when he dealt with the sheep and its products. He explained that in the development of the. sheep more regard had been paid to the wool than to the carcase, and that it wa extremely difficult to get a large produce of wool, together with a large carcase, lie estimated the number of sheep in Europe at over 160,000,000, in North America at over- 67,000,000, in Central and South America at over 97,000,000, in Asia, at over 45.000,000, in Australasia at over 100,000,000, and in Africa at over 1.000,000. The imports of mutton and lamb into the United Kingdom reached a total of 594,719 tons, which was equivalent to 12.900,383 carcases. These came from Australia, Mew Zealand, Uruguay, and ratagonia, but the parents in all these cases had been derived from Great Britain. The home supply of sheep was fairly constant, the figures for 1911 being 30,479,067, of whkh about 40 per cent, were slaughtered every year. The hoina supply of mutton and lamb v.as, therefore, 326,570 tons, as compared with a total import of 268,149 tons. After tracing the development of the frozen meat trade, Mr Douglas explained that it was generally agreed that it was undesirable to bring mutton from a distant country, except in the frozen condition, or at a temperature even 12deg below freezing point. This meant that a certain amount of rupturing of the cells took place owing to expansion, and there was a consequent loss of meat juice on thawing out. Erom the economic point of view it would be an immense advantage if chilling at a. temperature of about 28 F. could bo adopted to the handling of mutton Coming on to by-products, Mr Douglas mentioned wool as the first of these, and stated that the imports of wool amounted to 795,091.3101 b, of a total value of £33,001,622. The wool contained an oily secretion used as an emollient; potash, sulphur, chloride of potassium, and cholesterine could also be derived from it. Next came the skin, which was used for various kinds of leather. In Ireland the serum of the blood was used to produce a kind of sausage called drosheen. In Scotland the leg of the sheep was treated to produce a ham. and in the Midlands of England the flesh of the sheep was used to make sausages. Mutton fat was used also for the covering of meat paste preparations and to mix with lard. The intestines were used for violin strings, for cords, and for belts to transmit power for sewing machines, and even larger kinds of 'machinery. Sheep were also used for milking, and for the making of cheeses. He contended that tho residual byproducts of the sheep in the United Kingdom were not studied at all from tho scientific standpoint, largely owing to the fact that the quantities handled in any one place were not very large. He suggested the advisablenese cf aggregating

the supplies of animals for slaughter in central slaughtering establishments, when the very best use could be made of all the residual products.