The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1822. GRADING MEAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1822. GRADING MEAT.

In the recent statement made by the N.Z. Meat Producers’ Board, prominence is given to the fact that the board has made arrangements for supervising the grading of meat, which will be carried out next season by competent supervisors, who will visit all works periodically. Hitherto all that has been done at this end is to have the earcases passed by the Government experts as being fit for human food, and although that safeguard is absolutely necessary, yet it falls far short of what is required in view of the competition New Zealand has to meet in the overseas markets. It has been proved beyond all question that during the war and the commandeer the frozen, meat trade became very demoralised, and that much beef which should never have been allowed to be exported was sent to Britain, while the sale of accumulated stocks by the Imperial Government of meat that had appreciably deteriorated,., caused considerable injury to the reputation of the Dominion’s produce. It has always been a weak point in the frozen meat trade that it has lacked a reliable system of grading on which the buyers in Britain could rely implicitly as a basis of value, and the Meat Board is adopiing a proper business attitude iu turning attention to this matter. So fir as the Dominion’s mutton and lamb are concerned, there is no cause for anxiety as to both meeting with a ready market, yet if the top prices are to be obtained, the best quality only should be placed on the English market. Instances have been quoted where parcels of lamb have proved very unsatisfactory on being opened up, falling far short of specifications, and it requires no special business training to . understand how seriously and adversely practices of that kind will affect the Dominion’s trade, so that a strict grading will aet as a safeguard to the producers’ interests. Particularly is that so in the case of beef, which has to meet the competition by the Argentine, whose output is almost illimitable. Whether it is necessary to saddle the producers with the cost of a small army of inspectors or supervisors is quite a different matter. The officers of the Agricultural Department who are stationed at the various freezing works and abattoirs in the Dominion, and whose duty it is to pass or reject the carcases of the slaughtered animals, would seem to be the most fitting and authoritative men to grade tin meat, for their decisions carry the full weight of Government authority. It should take them very little longer to accurately grade and stamp each carcase accordingly than to merely stamp them as fit for export. This is a matter in which the department can be of service to the Meat Board and the producers, while there is a risk of friction if independent supervisors are appointed by the board to visit the works “periodically” and possibly cause trouble. Besides these periodical visits are not the best means of carrying out work of this kind, which needs attending to day by day as the slaughtering proceeds. There may'be some necessity for supervision of the handling of meat on the wharves and during loading, but even that duty would probably be best performed by qualified members of the staff of the freezing companies. It is the handling of the meat in Britain that needs special attention if the meat is to present an attractive appearance, and on that work attention should be concentrated. The dominant feature of the whole business is the imperative duty of maintaining high quality, for without this, all the supervision I will be unavailing. Marketing | conditions have-so altered since the I war that the difference between ' the highest and the lowest grades | of meat is now represented by I pence instead of farthings. The I aim of the producers should be to I place on the market only the : choicest quality of meat which | will create a demand in prefer- ■ ence to the meat of foreign com- ' petitors. If that can be done in

the case of cheese and butter, it can equally well be done in the case of meat, as it is the only way in which to build up a paying business.