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------------------------------ 05/25/1997 22:25 EST
Pacific States Allege Food Dumping
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand and Australia have been dumping inferior and damaged foodstuffs into South Pacific island states, the South Pacific Commission claims in a report.
It says fatty mutton and lamb and out-of-date and damaged products such as canned milk and beans, are being sold cheaply at supermarkets and small stores in the Pacific Islands.
The commission, a New Caledonian-based watchdog group, is investigating complaints that New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Australia are using the Pacific as a dumping ground for foods not wanted at home.
It warns such poor quality foods could seriously affect consumer health in the markets involved.
The commission said it had heard many complaints that the cheap products and mutton flaps were unsuitable for consumption and were a health hazard.
Mutton and lamb flaps are a mostly fatty cut of meat from the hindquarter of the sheep or lamb. If not exported, they are usually thrown away.
Eating mutton and lamb flaps contributes to heart disease, a common condition in the Pacific Islands that health officials are struggling to contain.
Bob Hughes, a commission nutritionist and epidemiologist, said most of the meat sold in the islands was from New Zealand and Australia.
The countries of greatest concern were Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
``These sorts of issues raise implications about how New Zealand and Australia treat (their) closest neighbors; like a dumping ground for poor-selling or surplus foods,'' he said.
The chief executive officer of New Zealand's Meat Producers Board, Neil Taylor, said that companies exporting meat were required to examine it before sending out shipments.
`I'd be very surprised if such inferior meat had been sent to the islands,'' he said. `Sure they (flaps) are cheap but in some markets they serve a particular purpose and are seen as good quality.''
His office had not received any complaints.
Some meat and food product exporters suggested that if there were inferior items sold in the lands the problem rested with the agents acting between the countries.
Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 01:06:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Surrey SPCA holds silent auction to free up barn space
