FROZEN MEAT FOR THE CONTINENT.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 9, 16 May 1911, Page 4

FROZEN MEAT FOR THE CONTINENT.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD IDEA. In view of the efforts which are being made by the New Zealand and Australian State Governments to secure the admission of frozen meat into Continental countries, interest attaches to a paper read by Mr Gilbert Anderson before the Cold Storage and Ice Association in London. Mr Andei'son, in the course of his paper, pointed out that many Continental countries had laws beai'ing on meat inspection, and while these remained in force the entry of refrigerated meat into these countries could only be looked on as experimental. The laws of France and Germany were so framed that refrigerated meat, in the condition under which it has to be handled, cannot enter those countries. The regulations are that the head, or greater part of it, the tongue, throat, liver, lungs, and heart have to be left in their natural position. These conditions are all right when applied to fresh meat killed on adjoining territory, but it is not fair that they should be enforced against refrigerated meat, which can only be properly frozen and handled if minus the organs. As shippers of fi'ozen meat can only send the carcass it is impossible for them to comply with the Continental law and conditions, and they must therefore fall, back on guai-antees that all meat shipped is fully and carefully inspected under the most rigid ante-mortem and post-mortem examinations. Mr Anderson therefore proposes that if an international meat standard should be established, shippers would comply with the conditions that all the refrigerated meat they tendered to any country should be properly inspected, and this should be admitted as prime facie evidence that it is sound and healthy. The Conditions of inspection which Mr Anderson proposes include that all slaughterhouses should be licensed by the Government, and only thoroughly sanitary slaughterhouses should receive a license ; that inspectors must be veterinary surgeons ; that all animals must be inspected prior to and at the time of slaughter; that no meat can be exported unless in proper condition. If such a standard is adopted refrigerated meat ought to be adadmitted into any country as a sound and healthy food. The Cold Storage and Ice Association decided to refer Mr Anderson’s ■ proposal to the next meeting of the Refrigeration Congress, to be held in Paris towards the end of the year.