VALUABLE INVENTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 211, 12 September 1901, Page 3

VALUABLE INVENTION.

FROZEN MEAT,

THAWING PROCESS.

London, \ug. 2. A very important ultimate effect on the future of the New Zealand meat trade is likely to be produced by the general adoption of an invention which has been introduced to London by the inventor, Mr A. H. Chapman, of Oamaru, New Zealand. “ My.object,” said Mr Chapman, “ in bringing out this invention was to improve the qualit3’ of New Zealand meat as sold in England by preventing what is called the ‘ sweating ’ of the meat in the process of thawing. I daresay you know what I mean, the meat becomes quite wet and often flabby, and so loses all attractiveness of appearance. But, although that is commonly spoken of as ‘ sweating ’ and is supposed by most people, including many experts in the meat trade, to be due to the exudation of moisture from the carcase itself, this is a complete misconception. There is no such exudation at all. What really does happen during the thawing process is that the atmospheric humidity, that is to say, the aqueous vapour which is always present in the atmosphere, becomes condensed through the chilling of the air on the cold surface of the meat, and thus the meat is bedewed with wet. This happens particularly with frozen beef, but also in the case of mutton.” “ But how do you prevent that ? Is your process anything like the defrosting plan introduced by Sir Montague Nelson ? ” “ Oh, dear, no,” said Mr Chapman; “my system is totally different. But please understand I do not wish to say

anything in the loast degree disparaging of Sir Montague Nelson's plan. What I say is that I proceed on totally different lines. My method is more analogous to that of Mr Furlong, whose method of wrapping with glazed paper you, of course, remember. In fact, I consider that Mr Furlong came very near achieving a great success, and only just fell short of it.

“ Now, what I do,” continued Mr Chapman, “ bearing in mind that the object is to keep out the moisture which the atmosphore is anxious to deposit on tho

frozen meat, is to clothe the meat in a waterproof garment. In fact, just as you might put on a waterproof coat to keep out the atmospheric moisture when it comes in the form of rain ; so I put on tho meat a waterproof wrapper which receives and throws off the same moisture when it is condensed out of the air by the frozen surfaco of the meat. The two cases are precisely identical. You would wear an overcoat waterproofed with indiarubber; so I cover the meat with a strong sheeting waterproofed with india-rubber, and the result is that it keeps thoroughly dry while thawing, and comes out bright and firm instead of dull and moist and flabby.”

“ Naturally that would mean a better price for tho meat ? ”

“ Certainly, Some meat which was thawed by my process, that is to say, hung up in my wrappers, afterwards sold freely at 4d to 6d per stone bettor prioo than tho highest figure quoted for the best New Zealand meat. Also bear in mind that my plan was tried with South Ameri-

can meat, therefore the contrast is all the moro remarkable. For the South Ameri-

can meat, treatod in my way, fetched all that money more than the best New Zea-

land meat dealt with in the ordinary way. This, you will see, is a very important matter. It really moans the beginning of a period of better prices for us in New Zealand. “ Tkero is one point,” continued Mr Chapman, 11 on which much misconception exists in the colony. People in New Zealand usually believe that the Smithfield salesmen sell merely on commission, and therefore that thoy have an interest in getting the best prices for the New Zealand meat, because in that caso the higher the price the better it would pay them, as the larger would be their commission. But this is not so. When I came to England I shared tho prevailing belief that the case was as I have put it, but when I was on the spot I found out tho truth, which is that nine-tenths, or I might say nineteenth-twentieths of all the meat in the market passes through tho hands of dealers who had themselves bought the meat at the lowest price for which they could possibly get it, and who then sold it for as much as they could make out of it.”

“ But, if in either ease they are trying ;o make the most out of the meat

whether by profit on tho purchase or by commission on their sales, does it not

come to the same thing in tho end?” “ No,” replied Mr Chapman ; “because they do not want prices generally to go up. They prefer prices to keep low so that they may sell larger quantities, and thus make their profit through the largeness of their sales. If they raise the actual market price of the meat that would mean raising tho cost to them when buying it. Thus it would not bo to their intorest for the prices to bo too high. They find that by using my covers they can sell the meat more readily and in larger quantities, and so they make their profit by increase in the sales and not in higher prices.” “But in that case how will the New Zealand producers get the benefit of in-

creased prices as you anticipated ?” “ That will come indirectly but not less surely,” said Mr Chapman. “Don’t you soe that if you increase the amount of the sales you increase the demand, and increased demand always moans and must mean improved prices. Ido not mean to say that my plan will necessarily bring about an immediate rise in prices, but I do say that it must do so in the long run, because it will cause a large increase in the consumption of the meat, and therefore prices must go up,” “ Are the wrappers expensive ? ” “ They cost about 15s each, but then the same wrappers can be used 100 or 200 times or oftener. You do not throxy away your overcoat when you haye worn it once. Nor do we throw away any wrappers after once using. On the contrary, we take care of them, and they can be used hundreds of times before they are worn out. A large number of carcases are now being dry-thawed by my method. All are put into my wrappers before being taken out of the cold chamber. Then they are hung up in a milder temperature until thawed. More than a gross of these covers are under order at tho present time for meat dealers.”—N.Z. Herald.