FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19008, 8 May 1924, Page 8

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER.

LAMB prospects. EXPORT OF CUT MEAT, LONDON, March 19. Opinion seems to be divided as to the ultimate course which the frozen meat market will take with regard to lamb prices, which have recently fallen upon a period of such marked depression. The season of Lent and the very late cold wintry weather have been contributory factors to this, and some market authorities are of the opinion that in view of the moderate proportion of prime lamb among the shipments arriving and to arrive, there will be an upward reaction from the present slump. The consumptive demand throughout the country is far from good, and it seems a pity that in the official advices from New Zealand two or three months ago as to the marked shortage probable for the season, better indication was not given that the earlier flow of arrivals would be a strong one, so that the trade here might have been rather better prepared in the pre sent circumstances. With other foodstuffs and ordinary necessities of life, still at the dearer level, there is no particular reason f»jr lower values in meat, except the temporary awkwardness of markea supplies, and the cold season should level out more favourably.

N.Z. PIECE MEAT EXPORTS. In recent conversation with Messrs H. S. Fitter and Sons, the well-known firm of frozen meat commission sales men in Smithfield, the writer of this article was referred to a possible improvement on one section of the frozen meat export from the Dominion, which, if effected would be of some convenience to the trade, and would probably be beneficial to both sides. This concerned the trade in piece nt at consignment, which, although not a regular business is frequently engaged in as a side-line, and is very convenient to senders in utilising meat from carcases which, although they may be damaged in butchering, can thus be put to service. Up to the present, rhe method of cutting such pieces, as pile tised in New Zealand, has, not been per formed in a way conducive to the best results from this trade. In London thcr-e is, of course, a regular method of cutting carcases, and Messrs. Fitter pointed out that pieces cut in other ways only had to be trimmed down before they could be sold, which involves a loss in weight which the buyer insists on reckoning at the time of purchase. It was stated by Messrs. Fitter that while joints more similar to London cuts would not be quite so heavy, the loss in weight would be amply justified by the extra price ob tained. They added that sometimes New Zealand cut legs arrived on market with a part of the loin attached, but this was useless, and had to be cut off. The shoulders often had largo pieces of the scrap and breast left on; those also had to bo shorn away by the butcher before sale. Loin pieces were, as a rule, correctly cut. it was admittev by Messrs. Fitter that careful packing in crates and wrapping in grease-proof paper provided indication of the care taken in despatch of thh meat by New Zealanders, hence it was all the, more pity that such meat should be badly cut. This question is referred to here, as the publicity it will receive among producers in general should bo of benefit to New Zealand interests. NZ. CHILLED BEEF SHIPMENT. Before those lines are in print there

will have come upon the British mar ket the experimental shipment of chilled beef from New Zealand, which recently left Wellington under the Linley process, as a trial consignment for England. It seems that the rather long journey involved in the calling of the vessel at other ports and the route home via the Horn will make this test a pretty severe one., but confidence is expressed that the Linley system of sterilisation, which was so effectually used for large quantities of chilled beef from South America before the war, will serve to put the Dominion beef bright and fresh upon the London market, as a result of Messrs. W. Wed del and Co.’s enterprise. This month, in the House of Commons, a question was put regarding this shipment, and the Minister of Health was asked whether he was aware that preservatives were being used in connexion with this shipment, a practice which had previously been condemned by a Government Departmental Committee. The. reply indicated that the Government was well aware of the process under which the meat was being carried, and had permitted its use. It is very ap parent that there lay behind this Par liamentary question organised opposition to this attempt to bring chilled beef from the British Dominions, a fact which should he carefully noted and watched in New Zealand. It is reported that the Australian Meat Council is observing the experiment with groat interest, with a view to seeing what advantage can be taken of this means of reaching the British market with soft-surfaced beef from the Commonwealth.

BARGES AND MEAT TEMPERATURES. An interesting sidelight on a feature of refrigeration connected with the everyday traffic in frozen meat in the Thames was forwarded <turlffg the dockers’ strike in the Port of London. Meat producers in New Zealand and elsewhere will long have been familiar with the practice of barging :< proportion of the meat cargoes from the refrigerated liners to the dock and up-town cold stores. At the moment when the recent strike broke out one such insulated barge was interrupted it being unloaded into the store of the London Central Markets Cold Storage Co. at Poplar. Seven hundred an*i fifty lambs’ carcases remained on the barge, and those in spite of the protests from the store to the Government and the trade unions concerned, were not again handled until 11 clear days after they had been so unworthilyleft lying in the bottom of the barge, of which the hatches had been replaced. To the surprise of those who ultimately took out this moat remainder, the carcases were **as frosh as paint,” nearly all of them being still hard. The episode provided eloquent testimony of the safe holding proper ties of the Thames moat insulated barge. Although the weather was in favour of the moat, the smallness of the remainder loft in the nearly empty barge increased the risk of temperature holding.