Transoceanic frozen meat export
Exportación transoceánica de carne congelada
- Date
- 1879-1882 · confidence high
- Place
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Credited to
- Shipowners and entrepreneurs of the UK, Australia and New Zealand (SS Strathleven, Dunedin)
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
The steamer Strathleven carried frozen meat from Sydney to London in 1879-1880 using cold-air refrigeration, and the Dunedin repeated the feat from New Zealand in 1882. It opened the British market to overseas meat.
Strathleven's first reliable attempt (1879) delivered the meat in good condition to London in February 1880. The refrigeration plant was a cold-air system (Bell-Coleman).
What it led to
- export meat industries in Australia, New Zealand and Argentina
- refrigerated ships and the cold chain
- cheaper protein in European cities