LA 
The expansion of the imported meat trade throughout the 
country is, however, a point of importance which calls for more 
than a passing reference. As is shown in Chapter I, the quantity 
of imported meat consumed in this country has recently increased, 
both relatively and absolutely; it now occupies a prominent 
position in the retail trade. Before the war, home and imported 
supplies were usually handled separately, right to the table of 
the consumer. There was a trickle from the imported stream 
into butchers’ shops which also sold home-killed, but, as a rule, 
the sale of imported meat was confined to retail establishments 
which specialised in that trade. To obtain imported meat, 
therefore, the ordinary consumer had to buy from a shop which 
traded in nothing else and, owing to the prejudice against imported 
supplies, often incurred some social stigma in doing so. In 1914, 
there were many thousands of people in this country who had 
never, knowingly, tasted imported meat, and on thousands of 
butchers’ counters it had never found a place. To-day, however, 
bhis is entirely changed; people who, before the war, never ate 
imported meat, now eat nothing else, and though there are still 
many retailers who confine their trade to fresh-killed meat, 
yet the majority include imported meat in their buying, and 
many have gone over entirely to the imported meat trade: It 
is now common to find butchers, even with a high-class family 
trade, displaying a notice to the effect that all meat sold in their 
establishment is imported unless otherwise stated. The offering 
for sale of home and imported meat, side by side, in the same 
shop, makes the alternative an immediate one, and imported 
meat has now selling opportunities unknown and undreamt of 
ten years ago. The competition confronting home-produced 
supplies has, therefore, intensified enormously. It may be 
observed that under the Sale of Food Order, 1921, it is for- 
bidden to expose for retail sale any imported meat unless 
such meat bears a label with the word ‘ Imported ” or words 
disclosing the country of origin, or unless a notice is exhibited 
in a conspicuous position indicating that only imported meat is 
on sale. The Linlithgow Committee remarked, in this connec- 
tion, that < in some parts of the country serious efforts are made 
¢ to enforce the provisions of the Order, not least, in a number 
“ of cases, by local retail meat-traders’ associations themselves; 
“ in others, the Order does not appear to be an effective 
“ instrument.” * 
During the war, meat was allocated under control in such a 
way that most consumers had, at times, to take their share of 
the imported article. This helped to remove the prejudice 
against refrigerated supplies, although much of the imported 
meat was somewhat poor in quality. Frozen goods of really 
good quality, as. for example, New Zealand mutton and lamb. 
* See also “ Report of Royal Commission on Food Prices.” (Cmd. 
2390. 1925), para. 237 et seq.; also ““ Report of Imperial Economic 
Committee  (Cmd. 2499. 1925), para. 53; also Clause 2. Merchandise 
Marks (Imported Agricultural Produce) Bill. 1925.