FROZEN MEAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2341, 6 November 1908, Page 6

FROZEN MEAT.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS

MU. GILBERT ANDERSON’S ADDRESS.

At the great International Refrigerating Conference recently held in Paris, the representative of New Zealand, Mr. Gilbert, Anderson, made his contribution to the proceedings l , and his resolution an favor of an international standard of meat inspection was—as announced by cable—.adopted, as well as his proposal to appoint .an international committee to fix the units and symbols to be used in the industry. , EARLY PREJUDICES. Mr. Anderson showed that the pioneers of the introduction of frozen meat into the markets of Great Britain at first met with much opposition and bail to contend with much really unreasonable prejudice, this prejudice being largely owing to a belief, falseiv concieved, that the llcsh of animals which had been carried across the ocean in a frozen condition would be detrimentally affected from a health point of view, and. would not, be a sound article of lood. In the earlier days of the refrigerated meat industry some color was certainly lent to this belief consequent upon what were from the standpoint of present-day knowledge, faulty methods of refrigeration in some of the early ships, and faulty methods oi handling and storing after landing. But these, though appreciable factors, had less effect than had the opposition induced, no doubt, by the fear that the wholesale importation of frozen meat would! have the effect of reduc-in'-1 the prices obtainable tor the Home-killed article. This lias not been the- case an spite of the enormous expansion of the trade from the colonies and other countries. British and ’Home-killed meat still maintains its standard value, but the community generally have benefited enormously, particularly the poorer classes, to whom, in the past, fresh meat of good quality had been a luxury to, be indulged in only on rare, occasions. Now it was within the reach of all. REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT. The vast, proportions to which the trade lias attained will be realised from the fact that during the year 1907 the total imports of frozen meat, into Great Britain were: — Sheep, 5,801,535 head; lambs, 4,348,992 head; cattle quarters. In addition to this, chilled meat, as follows w,as also received during the year.—3,l62,lSOcwt from the United States and Canada. This enormous trade has been developed within a period of twentyeight years, and within the last twenty years the increase of sheep has been four-fold, of lambs fiftyfold, while beef, including both frozen and chilled, has largely increased .

It is not yet thirty years since the first experimental shipments were made from Australasia, and though,in. its initial stages the industry was for a time slow in development, ow.'ing to inefficient knowledge of proper systems of refrigeration, difficulties of transport, and lack of properly organised methods of distribution, a period of ten years or so proved sufficient to- largely overcome these obstacles, and since then its growth has been steady and .continuous. Moreover, pastoral ists soon realised the value of’ the industry to them, and took steps to improve the quality of their live stock by the importation of high-class stud animals of suitable strains, at the same time utilising the latest development in agricultural science in order to increase the carrying capacity of their laud'. As an illustration of this, when the exportation of frozen meat from New Zealand was first initiated in 1881 the •number of cheep in the country was 12,190,215. In 1907 New Zealand possessed 20,983,772 sheep. No less than 57,787,850 sheep and lambs bave been exported during that period, as also 1,585,127 quarters of beef. The importations of frozen meat from Australia, the Argentine, etc., have also increased more or less, to an equal extent, as follows :—Australia has exported 19,694,928 sheep and lambs, 2,903,476 quarters of beef; River Plate, 42,430,678 sheep and. liamb®, 6,684,554 quarters beef,- and 1,744,109 quarters chilled beef since 1901. Thus it will be realised what an, enormous amount of relatively Cheap food has been rendered available for the people of Great Britain as a result of the development and improvement of refrigerating processes. THE WORK OF INSPECTION.

In the beginnig, it was perhaps of assistance to the business' that- no stringent regulations as to inspection of the meat at the time of slaughter were imposed by the authorities in Great Britain, in fact such 'regulations do not exist at the present day. Now, however, regulations are less necessary- Speaking for New Zealand, every endeavor is ' made there to ensuro that nothing but sound, healthy meat is exported. Mr Anderson gave a short resume of the past and, present laws relating to the inspection of meat exported from New Zealand, and on the system now in force.

INSPECTION IN GREAT BRITAIN While Great Britain 'allows, said Mr Anderson, all imported frozen meat to be landed without restriction, she ■ stiff imposes upon it a

system of inspection after landing, a system which, though carried out by the inspectors to the best of their ability, has the cardinal fault of not being under the-’direct Control of the Government, the powers being vested in the various local authorities, with the result that a noticeable lack of uniformity exists as to wlrat does or does not constitute fitness for human consumption, this more particularly from the standpoint of quality than of the existence of actual disease conditions. AN APPEAL TO THE CONTINENT ’“More than one attempt has been, made to introduce imported frozen meat into Continental countries,” said Mr Anderson, “particularly France, Germany and Austria, but for various reasons no satisfactory result has been obtained, principally on account of the regulations as regards inspection, etc., excellent as they are, enforced by these countries. No 0110 acquainted with the regulations governing meat inspection at present in force in Franco and Germany and Denmark, for instance, crii; do otherwise than admire the thoroughly scientific basis on which they are framed, and the thorough and systematic manner in which they arc enforced. Yet, I would submit that it is a question worthy of consideration by the authorities in Continental countries whether these regulations could not he modified to such an extent as to sallow the importation of refrigerated meat under- conditions which would render the business a commercial success. While the standard of inspection should bo maintained, would it not be reasonable to suggest that meat from any country whose system of inspection of export meat at- the time of slaughter is of sufficient thoroughness and high standard to insure to the satisfaction of the Government of the importing country that the meat is 'in every way sound and healthy, and lit for human food, should be admitted into ' any country unhampered by regulations such as now exist? Could this be brought about the available meat supply of the people, notably of the poorer classes, would be increased in volume, and this additional supply could be placed on the market lat a price which should place it well within the reach of all but the most indigent.” INTERNATIONAL INSPECTION SUGGESTED.

“Could an international system of inspection ho evolved which would ensure uniformity of method, combined with thorough efficiency, it would, .1 submit, be of incalculable benefit, both humanely and commercially. Hence I would submit ; a still further preposition for your consideration, viz : —‘That it is highly desirable tmat an attempt be made to place the systems of meat inspection m force-in the various civilised countries of the world on a standard and international basis,- and that the representatives of the various countries at this conference be asked to bring before their respective Governments the desirability of establishing a standard of international meat inspection.’ This standard should be one which will apply to the slaughterin" -dressing and packing ot •all meat, cattle, slicep, jpigs, poultry, o-ame, etc., , and the restrictions necessary in the use of preservatives in packing meat. Should this conference feel disposed to practically consider this suggestion, 1 would further submit that a necessary and valuable initiatory step towards the fulfilling of the project would be a, conference of the leading authorities of the world on meat inspection, and of the principal officers engaged in. directing the work of meat inspection 111 the various civilised countries or the world, to discuss the question and ascertain whether any mutually satisfactory system of inspection could he devised. I would, therefore, move ‘That in view of the large expansion of the trade in refrigerated (meat and the wide diffusion and distribution of refrigerated products, it is desirable that an international uniform standard of meat inspection be established and agreed, to by the various countries exporting and importing animal foods, so as to ensuie the healthy condition of the meat. The resolutions, as already stated, were .approved by the conference.