Report / Committee of Inquiry into Fatstock and Carcase Meat Marketing and Distribution.
- Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Fatstock and Carcase Meat Marketing and Distribution
- Date:
- 1964
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report / Committee of Inquiry into Fatstock and Carcase Meat Marketing and Distribution. Source: Wellcome Collection.
15/340 page 1
![INTRODUCTION To: The Right Honourable HENRY BRooKE, M.P., Secretary of State for the Home Department. The Right Honourable CHRISTOPHER SOAMES, C.B.E., M.P., Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The Right Honourable MicHaEL Noste, M.P., Secretary of State for Scotland. 1. We were appointed on 18th April, 1962, “To investigate the organisation of the marketing and distribution of fatstock and carcase meat in the United Kingdom, and the existing facilities and present methods employed ; to consider whether changes are desirable ; and to make recommendations.” 2. We now have the honour to submit our report. Scope of the Inquiry 3. Our terms of reference are very widely drawn, covering the marketing and distribution of fatstock and carcase meat from farm to consumer. We have interpreted “fatstock” to include cattle, sheep and pigs and “carcase meat” to: cover beef and veal, mutton and lamb and pork. It will be seen that this excludes poultry meat, which we have taken into account only so far as it affects, and is likely to affect, the demand for carcase meat. We have had more difficulty in deciding whether or not we should consider the curing, marketing and distribution of bacon. Clearly, since the curers purchase a substantial proportion of the pigs produced in the United Kingdom, their activities could not be ignored. On the other hand, we hesitated to widen an already large and complex field of inquiry farther than was absolutely necessary. We therefore decided not to embark on a detailed study of the bacon curing industry, but to inquire into this industry only so far as was necessary to understand the character and extent of its present and potential demand for pigs. 4. While our terms of reference do not specifically mention production, two of the decisions most important from the marketing point of view— what should be produced and when it should be produced—are necessarily made on the farm, and anyone considering the marketing system can no more afford to ignore the importance of these production decisions than can the farmer himself afford to ignore the decisions of the market. We have therefore considered those aspects of production which are important in relation to the pattern, problems and efficiency of marketing. 5. So far as the agricultural support system is concerned, we have assumed that it is not for us to question the general policy based on the Agriculture Acts, 1947 and 1957. The means by which the guarantee is applied to fatstock are, however, of vital importance to the marketing and distribution system and we have included them in our inquiry. ]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32177379_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
