Canned meat in Tembari children’s meal

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children

A FEW days ago, Hugo Canning Ltd, makers of our favorite Ox & Palm corned beef, delivered to The Center canned meat products as part of the company’s food assistance to charitable groups like ours.

The pleasant surprise is that the corned beef that our kids have began consuming since a few days ago carries a brand that is sold in Australia and elsewhere in the Pacific, but rarely in PNG.

I learned quickly that Hugo Canning also produces quality canned meat products for companies overseas, which sell them in the domestic market using their own brands.

Knowing that Australia is the consumer of such products, I have assumed that PNG has made the grade when it comes to canning meat products, and the canner is Hugo.

I have become familiar with this marketing strategy after my long association with RD Tuna Canners’ top man, Managing Director Pete C Celso, who is a regular donor to Tembari Children Center.

RDTC exports canned tuna in various sizes and flavors to Europe and the importers sell the same under their own brands.

If I’m not mistaken, there are more than 10 brands being marketed in European countries. The market is Europe with a European brand, but made in PNG using PNG’s quality tuna.

I assume this is also the case with Hugo Canning which uses both local and imported meats and ingredients specified by overseas buyers.

Seeing the pile of cartons containing the canned goodies, I immediately rummaged through contents looking for one thing – Ox & Palm corned beef, a long time favorite.

But it was not there and instead, this Australian corned beef brand, which tasted good with a unique flavor.

I emailed Dave Slape, one of the top guys at Hugo Canning, to thank him for the generous delivery. He assured me that Tembari children are in his list of foodstuff donation beneficiaries.

I told Dave: The canned meats in several cartons are most welcome … know why?

From Monday to Friday, our children whose number has grown from 78 six months ago to 97 these days, normally have a lunch of steamed rice and tinned fish, some veggies and cordial. Tinned fish day in day out, from Monday to Friday, in short.

I told Dave the canned meat would now break this monotonous chain of daily tinned fish meals for a number of days.

I have instructed our volunteer mothers cooking the daily meal to intersperse it with the donated canned meat for a change – meaning, to have at least a meal of corned beef twice a week until the supply has been used up.

When he learned that Yiannis Nicolaou of Lamana Hotel is one of our benefactors through his Children’s Foundation, Dave said: It’s a small world … because we also deliver on occasion to children under his foundation’s care.

Reading between the lines, I could sense from Dave that his company Hugo Canning did not make a mistake in supporting the Tembari Children.

In short, our benefactors Dave Slape and his company Hugo Canning are in good company with Yiannis Nicolaou and his PNG Children’s Foundation.



Email the write: alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg
jarahdz500@online.net.pg
freddiephernandez@yahoo.com