PRESERVING MEAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 October 1942, Page 4

PRESERVING MEAT

DEHYDRATION PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS IN NEW ZEALAND INVESTIGATIONAL WORK. The idea of preserving meat by drying is by no means novel and has been employed by man from early times, in those climates where the atmospheric conditions allow of natural drying by exposure to the sun, writes Dr J. C. Andrews, technical adviser on meat dehydration to the Department of Agriculture, in an article in the “Press,” Christchurch. During the 1914-18 war a certain amount of work was done on the artificial drying oi dehydration of meat and meat products. A certain small quantity was produced and used toward the end ol that year. It was not, however, a particularly attractive product and ly disappeared with the signing of the Armistice in 1918. . From time to time, however, during the years intervening between 1 JIB and 1939 various attempts were made to produce a commercially successful dehvdrated meat, but for one reason or another the products failed to command a market. During this period, however, considerable progress was made in the theories underlying efficient dehydration, and a large number of products were conditioned by means of carefully designed dehydrators, which allowed of a careful control of temperatures, relative humidities of the air employed, and air velocities. At the same time knowledge of the structure and composition of meat had increased rapidly, and these two factors set the stage for rapid progress in meat dehydration.

SAMPLE SHIPMENT. Consequently, at the outbreak of war. attention was quickly concentrated afresh on this problem. The Low Temperature Research Station ol the Food Investigation Board in England commenced a series of fundamental studies on the dehydration of meat. The progress of this work was watched on behalf of the New Zealand Government by Mr Neville Wright, scientific liaison officer in London, and at the beginning of June, 1941, he was able to report that a satisfactory product had been produced. At about this time experimental trials in meat dehydration had been carried out in Auckland under the auspices of the local farmers’ union, and a sample shipment of about scwt was sent for-* ward to London during July. As a result of various food preservation and storage problems a departmental committee was established m August 1941. This committee concentrated its main attention on dried but-ter-fat and dried meat. The . results obtained in England were studied and small trial lots were made in the same plant which had produced the samples shipped on behalf of the farmers union. It was obvious from the start of this work that the plant used was quite unsuitable and the product poor. However, it was deemed advisable to ship the samples produced to London for comment. Reports received later showed that both the farmers’ union and Government samples were not considered satisfactory, with the exception of one Government sample, which had received special treatment. Meanwhile, arrangements had been made with the firm carrying out the work to have an improved type of dehydrator installed, and Great Britain placed an order for a trial lot of 10 tons. EXPERIMENTAL WORK. Meanwhile, a great deal of experimental work was done in New Zealand to determine accurately the conditions for the production of a satisfactory product. Production was finally started in March, 1942, and the first ton was shipped at the beginning of May, 1942. This was received in England toward the end of June and proved to be a satisfactory article. At this stage the United Kingdom contracted with New Zealand for dried meat at the rate of 100 tons a month. The acceptance of this order involved the development of a full-scale commercial plant, and since Australia was known to have produced dried mutton, the writer was sent to Australia to confer with those engaged in dried meat production there. In Australia, development had occurred as the result of work done at the Homebush abattoir, where a small commercial plant is operated by the Army authorities. A small quantity of the product had been shipped to London. Just before the writer left Australia a similar order of 100 tons a month was placed there by the United Kingdom Government. Plans have now been completed and a start has been made to erect the commercial unit in New Zealand at works in the Manawatu. At the time of preparation of these notes, the pilot plant in Auckland has produced about 25 tons of product. While the main of the investigational work in New Zealand has been concentrated on mutton, experimental lots of beef and pork have been produced. In order that the New Zealand product should be tested from every point of view, careful control was established over the production in the pilot plant, moisture and fat being determined in each batch produced. Further, great care was taken to avoid bacterial contamination of the products and tests have shown that a very satisfactory state of sterility has been achieved.

Through the courtesy of the Home Science Department of Otago University suitable recipes were worked out for the product and the amount of vitamin Bl (Thiamin) retained in the product was determined and found to be satisfactory. At the present time the nutritive value of the product is being worked out in a series of trials being carried out at the Wallaceville laboratories of the Department of Agriculture. STORAGE LIFE. The storage life of the product is under test both in the laboratory and under general storage conditions, and it would appear that a storage life of at least six months is possible under ordinary storage and stowage conditions. • The dried meat has been packed in various ways, and it is hoped that it will be possible to package it successfully when compressed into blocks in specially designed cartons. One hundreds pounds of carcase meat is reduced to from 151 b to 171 b as the result of boning, followed by dehydration. In brief, the production is achieved by coarsely mincing the boneless meat, precooking it, and finally dehydrating it in a suitably constructed dehydrator. COSTS OF PRODUCTION. While it is too early as yet to estab< lish commercial costs of production, the evidence obtained to date indicated that dehydration should not prove to be more expensive than canning. There are several fundamental advantages to be gained by the dehydration of meat and these have prompted the Government to develop the process to a commercial scale. They are: — (1) The large saving in weight and space over other meat packages. (2) The dehydrated product can be shipped in non-refrigerated space. (3) No imported materials are needed for its production apart from initial materials required for plant construction. (4) Dehydration offers a method of disposing of lower grade meats such as ewe mutton. (5) The product is more readily stored on arrival since refrigerated storage is not necessary. (6) As a concentrated foodstuff it is more readily distributed in areas where transport is difficult, (7) It offers an alternative method of processing meat should difficulties