Story: Beef farming

First shipment of chilled beef for England

First shipment of chilled beef for England

The first shipment of chilled beef bound from New Zealand to England is loaded, in 1933. The experiment was not a great success, because chilled meat deteriorated faster than frozen meat. The trade depended on a well-organised system for handling and selling the product, which proved an ongoing problem. Today most of New Zealand’s chilled beef is shipped to Japan and Korea, where it fetches a much higher return per kilo than the frozen beef sent to the US to be made into hamburgers.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Sydney Charles Smith Collection (PA-Group-00242)
Reference: 1/2-046513; G
Photograph by Sydney Charles Smith

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Robert Peden, 'Beef farming - Beef farming in New Zealand', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/17317/first-shipment-of-chilled-beef-for-england (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Robert Peden, published 24 Nov 2008