BEEF FOR BRITAIN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 777, 11 June 1954, Page 15

BEEF FOR BRITAIN

TO freeze or to chill? '" At first sight you might think there is little enough to argue about, but if it was beef you were discussing and you were a British housewife — would you be so indifferent then? What, for a start, is the difference between frozen and chilled beef? Well, to freeze beef for export you bring it to 22 degrees below freezing point, and once you've got it there you can thaw it out in a year’s time and it will still be edible. Chilled beef, on the other hand, is at two degrees above freezing point, and it will keep for a matter of weeks only, and then only if great care is taken to keep it clean and free from bacteria. But according to the customer (who is supposed to be always right) the chilled product, when it comes to the point, is a good deal nicer to eat, full of its natural flavour, and worth paying a bit extra for. New Zealand first started to export chilled beef, in answer to competition from the Argentine, in the 1930’s. The war put an end to that, because there was no place then for a quality product that had to be eaten soon after it was landed. Besides, beef was just beef wherever it came from. There’s still lively controversy in this

country on the question whether it’s economically sound to export chilled, as compared with frozen beef, though within the last year or so exports of the chilled product have been resumed and are now going to Britain fairly regularly. To find out how this beef was prepared for export Bruce Broadhead, Farm Talks Officer at 1YA, recently took a tape recorder to an Auckland freezing works where the job is done. The programme he made has already been heard from 1YA, and it is now to be broadcast in Farm Sessions from other stations, starting with 2YA on Monday, June 14. Mr. Broadhead follows the story of chilled beef all the way from the selection of animals-young prime steers and maiden heifers-to the ship. What impressed him throughout the assignment was the emphasis on cleanliness. Before the animals are slaughtered, he found, they are washed in a positive deluge of water. Care is also taken to keep them quiet-no dogs are allowed in the yards-so that they don’t get bruised. Extraordinary precautions are taken on the beef dressing floor, where all the workers wear white overalls, and all visitors must wipe their feet on a sack saturated with disinfectant as they enter. Similar care is taken while the chilled beef is being transported by rail and on the ship itself. All these stages are described in the programme either by Mr. Broadhead or others whom he

interviews, and there are plenty of background noises to help listeners to get a vivid picture of what’s going on.