TAINTED FROZEN MEAT

Otago Witness, Issue 4085, 28 June 1932, Page 28

TAINTED FROZEN MEAT

NEW ZEALAND CARCASSES . STAINED WITH ARSENIC. LONDON, June 21. A disquieting announcement yvas inadd by Dr Parry, Health Officer at Bristol, that examination of 13,666 carcasses of Neyv Zealand lamb and mutton, just discharged at Avonmouth, shoyved that many yvere stained yvith arsenic which had apparently dripped from hides stored in the hold above. Out of the 1101 carcasses at present examined 301 were more or less stained. Some yvere condemned. A warning has been issued to wholesalers at Avonmouth and Bristol, in case some of the tainted carcasses yvere not detected. The same ship carried consignments to Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow, to yvhieh yvarnings have also been sent. 'The beef yvas not affected. LONDON REPORT SCOUTED. AUCKLAND, .June 23. Auckland shipping representatives and exporters are sceptical of the veracity of the tainted meat report. They scout the idea that arsenic leaked from hides stored above the refrigerated hold. A prominent hide exporter said that never in his experience had he knoyvn arsenic to be used for curing hides. Salting yvas the universal practice. Leakage from the brine coils in the refrigerated sections of the ship yvas not uncommon, but yvas seldom .sufficient to stain any great portion of the carcasses. Hoyvever, the brine and chemical solution in the coils did not contain arsenic. If that had been the practice there yvould have been trouble long before this. AN ANALYSIS ARRANGED FOR. LONDON. June 24. Mr R. S. Forsyth, of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, has arranged for an analysis of the Cornwall's carcasses. Only 200 to 300 out of the 7000 carcasses consigned to Bristol and Liverpool are involved. It is believed that the stains are mostly- from harmless staining material.