Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-19
MEAT FOR ENGLAND
Much of It Comes Fresh from Far
 Off Australia.
Beef Preserved During the Long vOy- age in Refrigerator Compart- ments-Features of the
 Traffic.

1 mentS-EeafureS or the
 1 Traffic.
 Few people have any idea of the enormous business that is done in frozen meat in the United Kingdom. To take the port of London alone during the year 1901 nearly 5,0o0,0o0 sheep were imported in the frozen condition, besides nearly 100000 quar- ters of beef and nearly 1,ooo,0 pack ages of other produce. such as rab- bits, joints of mutton and lamb, kid neys, kangaroo and OK tails and oth- CT things. At the Victoria docks alone there is accommodation in the shape of cold chambers for 500,O0o sheep and for nearly Soo,Ooo in the cold chambers of the West India dock and the Smithfield stores be- longing to the London & India Docks company, and it must be remembered that London, though the principal port of the United Kingdom, is only one of several, says the London Globe. An immense trade in frozen meat is done at Liverpool, Glasgow and other ports. .-E In Australia and New Zealand the sheep and the quarters of beef, the 1 rabbits, etc., are frozen at stations as near the cattle and sheep runs as 1t is possible to get them, the frozen carcasses being carried for 200 to 800 miles to the port of shipment in rail- way trucks fitted with proper insula- tion to prevent the heat from the outside atmosphere penetrating to the meat. Huge liners, capable. some of then,. of slowing as many as 1oo,- 900 sheep, bring them to London, Liv- erpool or elsewhere, the temperature of the holds in which the meat is l stored on board the liners being maintained at the same temperatures as that of the cold stores into which l they are delivered on arrival-viz., about Is degrees below freezing 1 point. -S
 The ships which are engaged in the traffic are literally packed from 1 stem to stern with carcasses of { sheep, quarters of beef, crates of rabbits, joints of mutton and lamb, etc. It comes principally from the United States and is known as chilled meat" It is frozen so hard that it looks and feels like wood or stone. One old salt told the writer that 6 joint of mutton or lamb was much better and handler for knock ing the top of hatchway open than handspike, it is so much harder and so much mor0 convenient. The car casses are all dressed in "shirts," consisting principally of coarse calico and on which the marks of the con signee are placed, so that all of the carcasses consigned to one merchant may be kept together. They are hoisted out of the ships hold by a simple form of chain conveyor fitted | with trays just the size to hold the carcass of the animal that is being dealt with. On the arrival on deck each carcass or package is tipped onto chute, which conveys it to it's store or to the railway truck which is waiting it. In the store the frozen carcasses are stacked in bins, one 1 above the other, till they are wanted, when they are delivered to chute, which conveys them to a weighing machine and thence to the cart or truck in waiting. In the railway trucks they are stacked in much the l same manner.
 All the frozen meat, except that known as chilled beef, is frozen quite hard and is maintained in that state until it is required for the market, but with "chiIled beef" temperature & little above freezing is required. Frog en beef commands very much lower price than chilled beef, and consider able trouble is taken to insure that the beef shall not be frozen. The steamer lines which handle chilled beef" are fitted with special refrigerating ap- I paratus, by means of which each cham ber in which the beef is carried is kept at exactly the temperature required. and this is followed out when the beef is landed, it being kept in the special chamber referred to, in which the tenn 1 perature is always at about 33 degrees. Great care has also to be taken in chilling beef and in bringing it back to it's normal temperature. If the chilling is done too quickly sort of crust of chilled meat is formed on the outside and the meat inside that crust deterio- rates, rendering the whole quarter bad on arrival. In the cold stores in which frozen meat is kept there is practically no smell, but in the chambers in which chilled beef is stored there is always smell which accompanies, made when l hanging. Chilling, in fact, is some' l what similar process to hanging in cold weather, but it is carried out more carefully, as the difference between the value of the meat if properly chilled and carefully thawed, as against meat carelessly handled is very great. The same thing applies. to the preservation of eggs, fruit, vegetables and other substances. They must not be frozen.