BEEF IN U.S.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29515, 17 May 1961, Page 14

BEEF IN U.S.

No Evidence Of Contamination

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, May 16. American authorities still have no concrete evidence supporting claims of their meat . inspectors that shipments of beef from New Zealand were contaminated by traces of D.D.T. and benzene hexachloride. Six further samples taken from New Zealand beef shipments have been found by the United States authorities to be free of this contamination. The total weight of meat from which! these samples came was 134 tons. The American authorities still have 41 samples in process of chemical analysis. This information was received tonight by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Hayman), who also learned that testing of every shipment of New Zealand beef is continuing in the meantime. The normal practice in the United States is to take occasional tests at random. It is expected that the deputy Director-General of Agriculture (Dr. I. J. Cunningham) and the general manager of the Meat Board (Mr J W. de Gruchy) will remain in the United States until all 41 samples still being tested have been cleared. The situation is still regarded as serious in meat exporting circles. The United States importing rules provide “nil tolerance” for benzene hexachloride. This could mean that if any one of the remaining samples contains a trace of this chemical, all shipments of New Zealand beef could be rejected.