GRADING OF MEAT

Southland Times, Issue 23793, 15 April 1939, Page 18

GRADING OF MEAT

SUGGESTION MADE IN AUCKLAND INTEREST SHOWN BY TRADE IN AUSTRALIA Suggestions that all meat should be graded and branded before delivery to retailers have been made by some sections of the meat trade in Auckland. The meat is not graded at present, the customer being charged according to cut. Most of the cattle for local consumption are killed at the municipal abattoirs, after which they are examined by Government inspectors for defects from the health point of view. If satisfactory, the carcasses are then stamped, by the health, officer. The move to have meat branded and graded so that the purchaser can recognize quality at a glance also has been given prominence in New South Wales, and probably never before has a proposal affecting the industry met with such general approval from breeders and graziers. Producers are unanimously of the opinion that the adoption of the plan would do more to develop the cattle industry of Australia than any other move initiated in the past 20 years. By educating the public in the selection of good meat and thus stimulating the demand for better beef, a grading system in New Zealand would eventually raise the standard of the herds and enable the Dominion to compete more vigorously with Argentina in the overseas markets. The opinion also has been expressed by a breeder in Australia that, while the public continues to be satisfied with the present meat offered to them, butchers will not be prepared to pay a premium for choicest beef sufficient to encourage breeders to raise the standard of their herds. . “ Branding and grading is carried out in Argentina and America, and all prime Scottish beef carries an official stamp. The scheme was started in America in 1927, and embraces all grades of. beef. Each Government grader inust have had at least eight years’ practical beef grading, as. well as buying and selling experience in commercial life. A roller stamp is used to cover the entire length of the carcass, so that the imprint covers every cut which may be sold. The stamp shows both the class iof beef and its grade. The ink used, is a harmless vegetable compound, which disappears when the meat is cooked. The time required to perform grading and stamping is paid by the person who requests the service, and works out at about one half-penny a carcass.