PRESERVING MEAT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145998, 3 December 1917, Page 7

PRESERVING MEAT.

A NEW PROCESS. iSomo interesting experiments with a new method of preserving meat have been carried out during the past three weeks at Orange, under the supervision of the chief inspector of tho Commonwealth Customs Department, and with very satisfactory results. The system is known as the Bullet process.' It does not aim at superseding tho cold storage method, but simply at providing a way of treating the earease in the country district, where it has been fattened, in such a manner that its transnoiTation to a central market —say from a remote district to Sydney—mav bo, made simple and easy. Tnc action of the preservative Used extracts the carbonic acid gas from the carcase,' kills tile putrefactive bacteria within, and seals the pores, thus preventing the entry of bacteria from without.

Mutton;after being treated, and then bung in the open, subject to atmospheric conditions, for 20 days, was found to be as fresh as the day it was killed. There was an infinitesimal loss of weight, and the carcase was dry. as compared with the 'flabby condition of chilled meat when defrosting sets in-. A butt of beef weighing 1011 b was treated and hUng in the open for '2O days. At the end of the time it weighed 1001 b. and was perfectly sweet. The opinion of experts is that the process will revolutionise the moat trade. The process is a cheap one. Twelve sheep can be treated for Is Cd ; 120 pairs 6f rabbits and poultry, or G cwt of 'sausages, can bo treated for 9d. The Orange Chamber of .Commerce proposes immediately to plan a plant, from which meat can be supplied over •a wide radius. On November 17, Mr. Bullot, tile discoverer, entertained at dinner 70 leading men of the trade. The whole of the meats and poultry consumed had been killed three weeks previously. and exposed to the open air ever-since, but they were unanimously voted perfectly good. The first consignment of meat, officially treated in Orange for the purpose of the test, consisting of veal, pork, mutton, and beef, was sent by rail from Orange to Sydney. The' Customs Meat Department at Sydney re-■ports-that it-arrived in a satisfactory condition and was placed in cold stor--ago.