MEAT CONSUMPTION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19957, 18 June 1930, Page 8

MEAT CONSUMPTION.

DECLINE IN BRITAIN. ■ DISQUIETING REPORTS.., • A Canberra message states that alarm is being felt at the diminished consumption of meat in Great Britain, and proposals are being made to inaugurate a campaign to stimulate its popularity. This is the burden of a report which has been furnished to the Minister for Markets,, Mr Parker Moloney, by the Commonwealth veterinary officer' in London, Mr A 11. Ileywood. . •It is being urged that Great Britain should adopt the American system of marketing meats in the package form. The meat stores in the United States, it is said, exhibit for sale, in a hygienic and attractive manner, all varieties and sizes of meat wrapped in transparent coverings, all of which are protected from atmospheric by..the glass of the refrigerated showcase. This innovation,- if adopted in Great Britain, woiild mean the transference of labour from the shop' to the factory, and the family- butcher would no longer be a butcher, but a purveyor of meats. The report, 'covers the marketing, of lamb, mutton," and beef in the United Kingdom for March. According to _Mr Heywood the market is • slumping. While , ewe mutton-has been in some .demand,, it will no doubt follow suit if, as it is claimed, there is an affinity between it and forequarter beef. When the latter is dear ewes are said to be sought after, since they are probably used to supply a similar lower-class traded The culmination of heavy supplies of beef and warm weather towards the end of the ,'fnonth led to chilled Argentine beef being sold off! hooks as low as 4s and 2s 6d per stone for hindquarters and fores respectively.

New- Zealand Lamb. In January best New Zealand lambs were quoted as high as lOgd, Victorian B}d, and Argentine 7Jd, while in March Argentine prices actually exceeded Australian on occasions, and were quoted to within, id of best New Zealand. This feature can mainly be accounted for, it is stated, by the general excellence- of the recent arrivals of Argentine lambs. It is stated in the report that the comparative popularity of mutton may give rise to some doubt as to the wis- : dom of assuming that-mutton is going more and mo.re out of [demand. It ap- ■ pears to be the opinion of the trade in , England, however, that the immediato future will, witness an even more pronounced slump, particularly in the case of wethers.

The report also refers to the activities of the scientific party which was sent out to New Zealand in September, 1929, to make a survey of the conditions of storage and transport .from .the meat works in New Zealand to Smithfield market with a view to discovering the reason; for the unsatisfactory, "bloom" or appearance of certain parcels of' mutton and lamb.. These parcels,. althoughT -of the finest' quality, lacked the perfection of bloom of special Australian consignments. There is no doubt, the report states, that the data obtained from the Burvey will be of value generally in the problems affecting tho transport of meat. Three separate surveys' have already been made in New Zealand.