New Phase in Meat Trade

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1046, 9 August 1930, Page 29

New Phase in Meat Trade

Development in England

ANEW development in the meat-packing and marketing industry has arisen in England which is causing much concern among retailers who have handled frozen meat products in the past. There is a growing tendency for the practice of cutting up meat into handy weights and placing it in nrtons t 0 take the meat trade away from the butcher, and make meat a commodity which can be handled hv a wide range of distributors.

n seems inevitable that this development of what is termed the rapidfrozen packaged meat trade will surive'and probably oust the old-time honoured custom of butchering iu the l l shops. It is interesting to note 1 serious view taken of the new- “ r bv the English retailer, and it veil for New Zealanders to note ;L e facts as they point to develop- ' ts which meat producers in all ° rts 0 f the Southern Hemisphere cannot afTord to miss. When this rapid frozen packaged. ea t first made its appearance on the on don Central Market on consignment from South America it was redded that a butcher onlooker had jade the remark that it would have bee n well it English butchers had alowed their trade to undergo registration in the war period, so that would have confined meat retailing to their members, whereas the new packed meats might soon be the stock-in-trade of the grocery or any other not taken the meat retailers of Great Britain long to realise this last-mentioned possibility. The Lanoashire Council of Meat Traders has jacitedly held meetings on the sublet and since then letters from leading’members of the industry to the trade Press have given further proof

of how deeply the new menace is sinking into the minds of retailers in all quarters. One butcher, who has taken a leading part in this discussion, says that he has no hesitation in saying that the carton meat question or problem is as important in itself as all the matters and affairs put together which the National Federation of Meat Retailers may now be considering. At least one large works, he adds, is being built in Great Britain with the solo object of freezing meat to be made up in cartons. Home-killed meat will be frozen. He asks whether these will have an ill-effect on fresh meat prices. He answers this question himself by saying he cannot foresee butchers buying carton meat in any quantity, therefore it seems obvious that the money to be spent in the new works is to be money thrown away; but he cannot see the new company so easily losing its money without a fight. What will they do? Canvas's the cafes, restaurants, canteens, etc., and cut out the butchers with this class of trade, and also supply grocers, provisions dealers, corner shops, large department stores, etc.? What will be the result? As far as this butcher can see, the cafes, etc., will jump at the chance to cut out the butcher’s profits and doal with grocers, etc., if these firms can buy and sell at a small profit. They will glory In the opportunity to procure it, and laugh at the meat trade for allowing It. All this is very Instructive to New Zealand readers of the attitude of the English meat retailer. Indeed, the

same butcher correspondent is afraid that if they allow the carton meat trade to fall Into other hands, trade will be too bad for hundreds of butchers to make their expenses, and they will be forced to close. He asks his fellow-traders to think of the industrial areas, where already grocers and kindred trades sell pork chops, steak, sausages, etc., also joints of beef, for Id or 2d in the lb discount, and then think of their gratitude when they are offered the chance of making Is into Is Gd through the sale of carton meat, which consists of pork chops, pork steak, undercut, loin chops, unci—think of it —joints of beef, etc. Where, he asks, will the butcher come in, with competition already so keen? He advises his conferes not to boycott carton meats, but to demand the licensing and registration of butchers’ shops, and beef, mutton, and lamb for butchers’ shops only. That, he says, is their only remedy. The development is most interesting, and one which should not he lost sight of by New Zealand producers. It would not be good if the South American exporter was allow.ed to get in ahead of this country on a trade connection which it lias taken New Zealand many years of hard pioneering to build up and consolidate.