OUR CHILLED BEEF

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20261, 9 November 1935, Page 15

OUR CHILLED BEEF

LACKING IN QUALITY There are rumours that some of the chilled beef we are exporting lacks the quality and bloom that is essential for successful competition in the London market, where second-class chilled beef is of little more value than prime frozen. It becoming fairly clear that bloom on chilled beef is not so much a result of skilful chilling as of prime quality of the beef, and that, in the absence of that quality, we cannot hope to produce the bloom required. New Zealand is young to the chill- ■ ing business, and an over-keenness in exporting quantity rather than quality can do a great deal of harm to the trade. There is plenty of evidence that even some of the best of the cattle that are being delivered for chilling' at the various works are short of quality as compared with the best Argentine; and the secret of the Argentine success in the chilling business undoubtedly lies in the high quality of the chilled animals. Breeding cattle for the chilling ti’ade is a special business, and there is plenty of room for such specialising in New Zealand, but we must get away from the idea that first quality chilled beef can be produced by cattle that are used for fern crushing, or for doing scavenger work in rough pastures. The best chilled beef can be produced only by young cattle that have their calf flesh maintained until the day they are slaughtered, and there may even be a percentage of such that should be rejected. The age of slaughtering should be kept in the close neighbourhood of two years. We must not overlook the fact that we are a long distance from our only market, as compared with the Argentine; hence, it costs us more to deliver the beef in the London market, and the extra cost can only be balanced by a higher price. Obviously, the quality of the meat must be superfine before we can accomplish this, otherwise we will never successfully compete with the Argentine.