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Much, though not all, of what was killed at the slaughterhouses
in this district was for local consumption. Recently, first at 46 High
Street, Wealdstone, and then towards the end of 1958 at Dracotts,
there has been an increase in the slaughtering not for local consumption.
The 1938 figures are representative of the killing at the greater numbers
of slaughterhouses in the years before the war. The larger amount of
killing in the post-war years, even in the reduced number of slaughterhouses
used, was easily dealt with until the recent development at
Dracotts, much of which was to produce meat not for local consumption.
The figures then do not suggest that any additional slaughtering
accommodation is needed to meet the needs of those living in this
district.
Factors influencing type of meat consumed. The demands for home
killed meat in this country as a whole might change over long periods
of time because of the different tastes of people, or could change for a
short time because of trade difficulties or of circumstances in the
countries sending meat from overseas. The following is an extract
from an article on meat and meat products from the supplement to
The Times on Britain's Food, of March 9th:
"Of the total carcass meat and offal supplies (excluding bacon) in
this country it is perhaps surprising to note that last year 65 per cent
came from home fed cattle, as against one half in 1938, and the figure
should increase still further this year. Thus the housewife who is out; for
English meat should be increasingly satisfied. Proportions of the various
kinds of meat, however, vary considerably, for while mutton and lamb
supplies were less and beef and veal remained much the same, pork
production rose by a sixth.
Our roast beef is two-thirds Old England; and, of the rest, mainly
chilled, the largest amount came from Argentina in 1958. But in view
of the drastic reductions on Argentine beef exports, we may take more
in 1959 from Australia and New Zealand, which were responsible tor
a tenth of our supplies in 1958 in the form of frozen and boneless beef.
Home production of veal is only about a fortieth of our beef
production, but nevertheless we provide three-quarters of our supplies
ourselves. Of the quarter imported, Holland, Australia and New Zea
land make up the total about equally between them, with Australia
having gained at the expense of New Zealand over the past lew years