ABSTRACT
Three complementary types of technical advance were required to allow the industry to grow from a position of insignificance in 1840 to the size and international importance it had assumed by 1914. In some ways these changes like the improvement of livestock and product quality - were specific to the industry itself, but in other respects - like the introduction of low-cost long-distance transport - they were technical changes that had a much wider application. In some ways these changes like the improvement of livestock and product quality were specific to the industry itself, but in other respects like the introduction of low-cost long-distance transport they were technical changes that had a much wider application. In all four main production regions the improvement of livestock quality was necessary to meet the rising European demand for imported meat.
