CSIR Food Preservation and Transport Section (1931 - 1940)

Summary

The CSIR Food Preservation and Transport Section was established in August 1931 at the Brisbane Abattoirs. It preceded the CSIR/O Division of Food Preservation and Transport, which gained its divisional status in 1940.

Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page 32:
"During the early years of C.S.I.R. there were a few scientists engaged in research on the ripening of bananas and on freezing of meat and fish. A survey of food preservation and transport, with special regard to refrigeration, was made in 1931-32, and it became clear that much more work was needed in order to reduce waste and improve quality. In 1932 a Food Preservation Section was established and Dr. J.R. Vickery, an Australian who had been engaged on a survey of the New Zealand meat industry, became its leader. Dr. Vickery has been Chief of the Division since the group acquired Divisional status in 1941.

The first headquarters of the Division [section] were established at the abattoir at Cannon Hill, a suburb of Brisbane. The group at headquarters concentrated on the problems involved in the export of chilled beef, and a second group in Melbourne undertook a study of the influence of storage conditions on fruit quality.

In 1938, when the Division's headquarters were transferred to the abattoir at Homebush, near Sydney, work was extended into other fields, including fish preservation and bacteriological studies of the spoilage of eggs."

Related entries

Timeline

 c. 1926 - 1931 CSIR Cold Storage Investigations
       1931 - 1940 CSIR Food Preservation and Transport Section
             1940 - 1960 CSIR/O Division of Food Preservation and Transport
                   1962 - 1971 CSIRO Division of Food Preservation
                         1971 - 1988 CSIRO Division of Food Research
                               1988 - 1992 CSIRO Division of Food Processing
                                     1992 - 1997 CSIRO Division of Food Science and Technology
                                           1997 - Food Science Australia - CSIRO

Published resources

Books

• Bastian, J. M.; McBean, D. McG.; Smith, M. B., 50 Years of Food Research (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1979). Details
• Schedvin, C.B; Trace, K., Historical Directory of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 1926-1976 (Canberra: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/csiro_historical_directory_1926_1976.pdf. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-561356. Details