Evening star., 1944-05-03
OPA Makes All Meat Point Free
Except Steaks and Beef Roasts
As Foreign and Army Needs Drop
BowIes Sees Status
Lasting at Least
5 or d Months
BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE. Jr.

All meats except beefsteaks
and beef roasts become ration
free at midnight tonight, Price
Administrator Chester Bowles
announced today.
Disclosing the sudden move at a
special press conference, Mr.. Bowles
revealed that lease-lend buying has
dropped sharply. This factor, COM
bined with reduced Army and Navy
demand. crowding of storage space
and the hope that the action will
bring more meat to market this
summer, made the move possible.
he said
The removal of ration points, eff
fective for an indefinite period,
covers all cuts of pork, veal, lamb
and mutton and all beef except the
steaks and roasts; beef hamburgers,
beef stews,, all kinds of variety
meats, sausage, ready-to-eat meats,
canned meats and canned fish are
ration free.
$50 of Meat Ration Free.
The action removes IS per cent
OF all meat from the ration list.
The only items which will require
expenditure of red ration stamps
and tokens in addition to beef
steaks and roasts are butter, mar
garine, cheese and cheese products
and. evaporated milk.
Because of the wide variety of
meats now becoming ration-fr free, Mr..
Bowles announced housewives will
have to stretch rcd points over
four-week period instead of the
present two-week period Beginning
Sunday OPA will validate 80 red
points every four weeks. Red stamps
R-8. S-8 and T-8 will be validated
Sunday, but no more red stamps
will be made valid until June 3.
Declaring the changes are lin line
with OPA's policy of limiting ra-
tioning to the very minimum" Mr..
BowleS said that II cannot say now
when or whether the meats we are
now making point free will again
have to be given point values. Much
depends upon the cattle feed situa-
ton which, in turn, is dependent
In large measure on the weather" !"
He indicated, however, that he
was fairly certain the new status
would endure for three or four
months at least.
Pork Particularly Plentiful.
Mr.. Bowles pointed out that pork
is particularly plentiful at this time
because lease-lend requirements
have dropped from 35 per cent to Z
per cent of our total pork supply.
The action in connection with beef,
he said, is related to Army and
Navy demands which are on "a cur
rent basis" Points on lamb, NUT
ton and veal are being removed as
production is greater than at this
time last year.
The animal production now is of
record proportions, Mr.. Bowles
stated. Whether it can be main
tanned depends upon the amount of
feed and feed grains that must be
shared by meat animal herds with
dairy cows and poultry"
He said the volume of beef
steaks and roasts now coming into
market is not large enough in re-
lation to the demand to warrant
any point changes at this time.
Point values for beef steaks and
roasts continue at from seven to
thirteen points per pound.
Items Becoming Ration Free.
The following items become point
free at midnight:
Beef-hamburger, stews and all
other cuts except steaks and roast.
Pork-all pork and pork products,
fresh, frozen or smoked, however
packed.
Veal-all veal and veal products.
Lamb and mutton-all lamb and
mutton and all lamb and mutton
products.
Variety meats-alI variety meats
including liver, sweet breads and
tongue,
Sausage-all items.
Ready-to-eat-meats-al items, in
Guiding boiled ham, boiled tongue,
dried beef, corned beef brisket, bar
becued pork and spareribs.
Canned meats-all meats in tin or
glass containers, including luncheon
meat. deviled and potted meats,
dried beef and chile con carne.
Canned fiSh-bonito. mackerel
oysters, salmon, ssrdines, shrimp.
tuna yellowtail and all canned
products containing fish.