American Criticism Of N.Z. Beef

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 15 May 1961, Page 10

American Criticism Of N.Z. Beef

The fastidious American taste is one of the most serious obstacles to increasing New Zealand meat sales on the lucrative United States market; and anything that may be used to justify American prejudice is likely to have financial results completely disproportionate to its hygienic significance. That is why the criticism of New Zealand beef shipments because of traces of insecticide must cause disquiet, which will not be allayed completely by the prompt action of the Department of Agriculture

and the Meat Producers’ Board. The chairman of the board (Mr J. D. Ormond) has emphasised the importance of the American trade to New Zealand producers; he could have added that this trade is particularly useful to the national economy because it contributes significantly to the Dominion’s dollar resources and supplements traditional British outlets for New Zealand exports. One of the most puzzling features of the trouble over insecticides is that the United States authorities permit a greater contamination of meat with D.D.T. than New Zealand allows in supplies for its own domestic consumption. The consequences of the present difficulties will not be wholly bad, however, if even stricter care is taken in preparing goods for extremely exacting customers, and if intensified research improves New Zealand knowledge of insecticides and their risks.