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THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMPORTED MEAT TRADE.
I am indebted to Mr. E. H. Johnson, one of the Authority's Food Inspectors
on the Royal Docks, for the following most interesting and informative account of the
history of the imported meat trade.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Britain was in the transitional period of her Industrial
Revolution, changing from agriculture to industry. Manufacturing towns were growing rapidly,
with a corresponding increase of the population, bringing with it the problem of the Nation's food
supply.
Meat was becoming scarce with dwindling herds of cattle, while at the other side of the earth
the reverse was taking place ; Australia, New Zealand, the Argentine, where colonists were numbered
only by thousands, their cattle had increased to millions. How to bring that abundant supply of
meat to Europe ? The colonists were boiling down carcases for fat, and in many instances burying
the hides as waste. Prices were so low that some method of conserving the meat became vital,
and many ideas were put forward, and experiments made in England, America, Australia and
elsewhere.
In the meantime live cattle were being shipped from the Continent and North America ; during
1894 Australia made the experiment of shipping 20 head of cattle on the s.s. " Maori King " from
Sydney. After 67 days on board, the cattle were landed at Deptford, only one having died on the
voyage. Though this pioneering venture showed that live stock could be taken from Australia
to England, the financial result was a heavy loss. However, another shipment was tried, this time
18 cattle and 48 sheep were carried on the s.s. "Port Pirie," and only one ox and six sheep died
during the voyage. Shipments continued until February, 1896 when, of some 381 cattle shipped at
Gladstone, only 32 animals arrived at Deptford, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals took the matter up. The vessel, s.s."Angers," was prohibited from carrying live stock
again for 12 months, at the same time the underwriters were beginning to fight shy of covering such
cargoes, and so that trade died.
During the year 1874 live cattle and sheep were exported to England from the Argentine,
which continued as a prosperous business until the year 1900, when, owing to a severe outbreak of
Foot and Mouth disease in the Argentine, the English ports were closed to this traffic. Three years
later the ports were re-opened to receive Argentine cattle, but upon further discovery of Foot and
Mouth disease in some cattle sent from the Argentine to South Africa, English ports were again
closed, and have remained so ever since.
Live animals from the Continent were stopped in 1892 owing to various infective diseases
which were then rampant in Germany, Holland, &c., but cattle continued to arrive from the U.S.A.,
Canada, and Ireland. These beasts had to be slaughtered at the port of landing, either Glasgow
or Birkenhead, but gradually the numbers of animals from these countries diminished until to-day
they have practically ceased.
In 1717 salting works were built in Buenos Aires and the beef was exported. The process
of drying meat, termed "Jerked Beef," "Biltong" or "Charque" grew, but soon became limited,
as practically the only outlet were the markets in Cuba, Northern Brazil and the West Indies.
No South American meat of any kind was imported into England during the sixties, and Australia
was the pioneer of the canned, as she was later of the frozen meat trade.
The first men to preserve meat by canning in Australia were the Dangar Brothers. Discontented
with the low values of cattle, they established a canning works, and in 1847 they produced canned
meats, which were sent to London and were readily taken up by the Admiralty. They also found
a good market in the Midlands. Although the canning trade was certainly a useful outlet for surplus
sheep and cattle it was not sufficient to enable the graziers to derive much benefit therefrom, and
boiling down and production of tallow was still the main outlet. In 1863 a German chemist, Liebig,
began to manufacture meat extract in the Biver Plate, building up a useful export trade to England.
Three years later a Mr. Tindal, after studying Liebig's method, began operations in Australia ;
at the same period one Robert Tooth began making extract at Jengaree, New South Wales.
The position in New Zealand was much the same as in Australia ; there being a large surplus
of sheep which the small population was quite unable to deal with profitably, and so matters stood
until the event of refrigeration.
There were many suggestions, and much experiment was made in bringing meats across the
world about this time; one was the boiling of the best cuts of mutton, placing them in barrels and
pouring hot fat round the meats. Such cargoes did arrive in England and in good condition, but
somehow the public did not take to the product. Another idea that soon collapsed, was to dip the
meat in bisulphide of lime! When one reads that 200 patents had been registered for preserved
meat processes, it can be imagined how scarce meat was becoming in England.
In 1875 two large tin-lined cases of meats were shipped from Melbourne, the meat wrapped in
prepared calico and the whole packed in charcoal, but as may be expected the meats were somewhat
decomposed on arrival in England.
Turning now to refrigeration, we find that as long ago as 1626 snow was used to preserve fowls,
and it was well known that meats always kept longer in the colder climates than in the warmer ones.