MEAT SHRINKAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 21

MEAT SHRINKAGE.

EXPERIMENTS IN ENGLAND. There are no teener epicures in the world than the inmates of workhouses, accustomed for long years to a life of easy criticism of the food presented for their consumption. It is interesting, therefore, to learn that the Liverpool Workhouse Committee has just been considering a proposal to use oversea frozen meat in the mansions under their control. The motion' which was promptly defeated last week was: —“That in the interests of the inmates and the ratepayers, chilled imported beef and mutton should bo served instead of home-killed meat.” 0 It was said by those who so rashly advocated the change that it would mean an annual saving to the rates of three or four thousand pounds, but the other side brought forward statements that the apparent saving would be more than counterbalanced by the shrinkage in frozen meat during cooking. This point, aroused keen interest, and special experiments wore made wilh a view to establishing the soundness of rhe contention. After careful trials it was discovered that the leas in cooking in 101 b joints was as follows: Home killed 11b 3|!b Chilled 11b lioz Frozen 11b 3|oz The tests wore made by Mrs Chester, a well-known lady cook in Liverpool, who added that the flavour of the imported moats after cooking was quite equal to that of the home-killed. The Morning Post says;—“As at least one-third of the ratepayers in our large towns cat chilled and frozen meat, it is being asked why the inmates of workhouses should bo provided wft)> meat costing several thousands annually more than the kind of meat bought and eaten by the ratepayers and yet not superior.”