EXPORTS OF SHEEP KIDNEYS.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 152, 8 October 1912, Page 4

EXPORTS OF SHEEP KIDNEYS.

LARGE PERCENTAGE CONDEMNED Attention is s drawn in the annual report of the High Commissioner to the large percentage of sheep andlamb kidneys which have been condemned in London on account of their being found to be decomposed on arrival. In a few cases the condemnations have equalled 100 per cent, and in many cases from 25 to 50 per cent of the consignments. The inspector, A. Ci'abb, M.R.C.V.S<j has kept a record of the more important condemnations, and from these he notes that for the year ending March 31, 1912, no fewer than 18,569 dozen have been condemned, representing, at a low estimate, a loss of £SOO. From the appearance of the condemned kidneys, Mr Crabb is of opinion that such condemnations are preventable. The kidneys were bright in colour and dry and the paper surrounding them and the boxes in which they were packed were also dry, thus indicating that there had been no softening after the initial freezing, and leading one to the conclusion that decomposition had been allowed to set in prior to packing, or at least, freezing, at the works of origin. Fie recommends that exporters who have suffered condemnation should pack the kidneys in cooled boxes as soon as possible after slaughter of the animal,"and reduce the temperature at once. This, he thinks, would remedy matters, as he is forced to the conclusion that the kidneys have been allowed to remain at too high a temperature for too long a period after their removal from s the carcass.