Meat and seafood—especially the cheaper varieties—still move through refrigerated warehousesBy Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOTRetailers and car sellers, among others, may be taking the brunt of the recessionary hit that faces the US economy as a whole. Many consumers find it expedient to postpone buying a new car, or they decide to purchase fewer new clothes, or they forgo the new pair of sneakers they might have otherwise bought. However, people still have to eat, and operators of cold storage facilities that handle meat, poultry and seafood are finding that, while business might be a little slower, they don’t find themselves in the same straits as some of their peers in other business sectors. “We are not as stressed as banks or general retail outlets,” said John Galiher, president of Preferred Freezer Services, a nationwide network of 23 cold storage facilities headquartered in Newark, NJ. “Buying food is less discretionary than jewelry or flowers. We still have throughput and we are turning inventory.” The nature of Preferred Freezer’s inventory has changed in the wake of the economic crisis. “There are not a lot of 20-pound lobster tails moving through the system,” said Galiher. “But tilapia, at two dollars a pound and shrimp at four dollars a pound are moving robustly.” The same goes for poultry and meat. “Poultry is moving fine but it’s all the cheaper cuts,” said Galiher. “With beef, we are seeing increased volume in hamburger meat and in low-priced cuts and decreases in the higher priced cuts and in expensive super lean ground beef.” Some of the niche players see things a little difficulty. Gerard von Dohlen, president of Port Newark Refrigerated Warehouse, said that warehouses in Philadelphia are full of Australian and New Zealand beef and that, in New Jersey, there has been an upsurge in imports of beef from Latin America, and specifically, of kosher meat from Uruguay and Costa Rica. Port Newark Refrigerated operates 2.5 million of refrigerated warehousing space in Port Newark and adjacent to Liberty Newark International Airport. The facility is also a United States Department of Agriculture Meat Inspection Department approved import inspection establishment. Port Newark Refrigerated Warehouse handles a wider range of temperature controlled products that are stored as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit, as well as those stored in the 36 degree to 40 degree range, and at 50 degrees to 60 degrees. Frozen meat, fish, and seafood and juice concentrates are stored at zero degrees, Dohlen explained. Hams and other meats go into the midrange room, while white grape juice concentrate, confectionaries, and alcoholic beverages are typically stored at the 50 degree to 60 degree range. The reasons for the phenomena observed by von Dohlen differ depending on the situation. The tanking of the Australian dollar combined with a relatively strong US dollar and the drying up of markets in Europe have all encouraged more imports of Australian and South American meat to the US, von Dohlen explained. Supplies of Chilean fish are also strong. “When the dollar was weak, meat disappeared,” he said. “Now it is back in abundance.” In the case of kosher meat, the closing of the largest domestic kosher supplier last year in the wake of labor and safety violations caused a shortage that necessitated increased imports. Imported beef is recognizable for its darker color, leaner composition, tougher constitution, and gamier taste, von Dohlen noted. This is brought about by the fact that cattle outside of the United States and Canada are grass fed, while the domestic variety is corn fed. The corn-based diet of North American cattle makes their meat fattier, milder, and more tender. Because American tastes do not usually run to imported beef, the imports are generally ground and mixed with home-grown beef for hamburgers, and are also used as an ingredient in soups and stews. “What I am seeing is a large increase in private label products competing against the major brands,” sai