The Frozen Meat Industry

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1022, 12 January 1882, Page 3

The Frozen Meat Industry

While so much attention throughout all the .Australian Colonies is now 'being devoted to the frozen meat process. the extract published hereunder, upon the subject will be read by many ■of bur subscribers with much interest. The extract is from a Special .Circular (a copy of which has kindly been placed at our disposal) issued at Home By the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency. Company, .and. forwarded to the Colonies by the Brindisi mail of November: — 1, Queen Victoria Street, Mansion House, London, E.C., 18th November, 1881. Frozen Meat. —In view of the development of this industry, the successful importation of frozen meat from Australia having been already practically secured, it is desirable that in order to its satisfactory disposal in this market great care and attention should be paid in carrying out the ■details attendant on the opera’ion, not only as regards slaughtering, -quality, weight, freezing, and preparation for shipment, but with respect to stowage in frozen chambers of vessel, -and time of arrival here. Ou these i points the following remarks may prove of service:— (<r). Slaughtering, Quality and Weight ought to be such as to suit the requirements of the London market,' 'the butchering being performed By experts conversant therewith. These wants will best be met by the observance of the following rules:—Beef : Care ought to be taken not to score the meat in flaying; the ■carcases ought to be sawn, not chopped through the chine, thus separating the sides with least injury to the bone; for this operation a bow meat saw should be used. Bullocks compact in frame and in good condition to weigh when dead from 680 to 8001bs. ought to be selected. If attention be paid in the separation of the body, that there is no injury to theehine.or backbone, the meat may be sent in sides rather than in quarters, but if in the handling of the sides before being frozen there is any probability of injury by abrasure, the meat ought to be cut into quarters. Sides, if delivered in perfect drtier, will yield a better outturn per lb. than if separated into fore and hind quarters, but in the transfer from place of production to this market it may be difficult to secure the rieedful care in manipulation to attain the desired end. Sheep ought all to be wethers or maiden ewes; ought to be carefully skinned without “ scoring ” carcase ; ought not to be cut through the “ aitches,” but the breast bones may be divided, the knobs of the kidneys with the suet and the shanks being removed. Condition must be uniformly good. Merino sheep should weigh from 561 bu. to 641b5., the latter weight being preferred, and cross-bred sheep from 641 bs. to 801bs ; the meat of the crossbred will generally command here a more ready sale than that of merino sheep. (b). Freezing, Preparation for. Shipment and Stowage in Vessel.—“ Before being put under the freezing process the meat, whether beef or mutton, must be thoroughly codied in a cooling chamber, at a temperature of, say, 40 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the time of year, locality, and weight of meat dealt with, must depend the interval allowed to elapse between killing and freezing, but probably 48 hours will be found amply sufficient for the purpose. If strict attention to the cooling be not observed the effect of freezing meat too freshly killed will be to cause decay to commence at the bone. If after being frozen the meat be for sometime exposed to a temperature above freezing point before being put in the freezing chamber of export vessel it may bp seriously injured.. Should

there be no special means for its conveyance in a frozen state from the freezing house on shore to the vessel the transit ought to be short and quick. Each quarter or side of beef and carcase of mutton, after being duly, but not too severely frozen and properly covered with calico ought to be conveyed to the freezing chamber on board ship. If that be situated above the water load line of the vessel (a position which should, if possible, be avoided) care should be taken that the meat does not come into such close contact with the sides of the chamber as to prevent free circulation of air. It has-been found that the sun’s rays, in the passage through the tropics, have been sufficiently powerful so to raise the temperature in the walls of the chamber as to affect the meat stowed above the level of the water line and placed in contact with the sides of the chamber. In every case, the meat, whether beef or mutton, ought to be stowed “ athwart,” and not “fore and aft” ship; in the case of sheep, the carcases being la d with the legs next the sides of the chamber, the temperature of which ought, in case of accident to freezing apparatus, to be maintained as nearly as possible at 26 degrees Fahrenheit. The mark and shipping weight of each side or quarter of beef or carcase of mutton ought to be attached thereto in order to facilitate identification of interests and comparison of shipping and sale weights. (c.) Time of Arrival. —When more extended experience of the intrinsic merits of Australasian beef and mutton shall have been gained in this country, and the appliances requisite for the storage here of large quantities in frozen chambers shall have been secured, the question of time of arrival will become somew'hat less important than it is under existing conditions. Speaking generally, it may be stated that frozen meat reaching this market between December anil August will meet a more ready and satisfactory sale than if the arrivals take place between September and November. Throughout the latter period there is not only less demand, but supplies of domestic meat and those from various centres of production on the Continent are larger, and with these, Australasian shipments must necessarily compete. As it is not always possible, even under favorable conditions of market, to arrange the discharge from ship on the davs in the week on which the Metropolitan Meat Market is most largely attended, it will be desirable to secure, if possible,"a minimum of ten lay days for the unloading at this port. Care ought, therefore, to be taken to obtain thisconcession in making arrangements for shipping.