MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A city and brand name proud of their industrial history

The world's most popular and traditional corned beef brand takes the name of the Uruguayan city of Fray Bentos, and local authorities and residents are strongly lobbying to have its local Industrial Museum included in the Unesco World Heritage list.

Fray Bentos is the capital city of the county of Rio Negro, another famous corned beef brand, both dating back to the days when the Anglo, previously Leibig's meat packing plant exported beef and related produce to the world but mainly to Britain and the net work of butcheries belonging to Lord Vesty's group. The former Liebig/Anglo plant which was launched a century ago at its peak production had 5.000 full time employees and literally put Fray Bentos on the world map. It was also a benchmark in Uruguay's industrial revolution, (if Uruguay can be considered an industrialized country), since the export of frozen beef marked the beginning of the end to the overseas sales of coarse hides and salted meat. All this is collected and neatly exhibited at the local Industrial Museum which is focused mainly on the city's great industry, meat. At the heart of the best grasslands of Uruguay and with a natural port next to the River Uruguay the former Anglo is closely associated with the industrial development of the country and its British roots can still be seen in Fray Bentos: the typical housing for British staff, the outlay of the establishment, the sports grounds and much of the well kept equipment with the identification "Made in England". The city and museum was recently informally visited by participants of a meeting in Buenos Aires of a Latinamerican Industrial Heritage forum which presents suggestions to Unesco officials. "It was an opportunity we couldn't let by. The Latinamerican Industrial Heritage meeting brings together people related to multilateral organizations and can advise us on how to best present our aspiration. We have a task team working on that", admitted René Boretto Ovalle director of the Fray Bentos Industrial Museum. "We believe all the historical elements surrounding Fray Bentos and its industrial tradition are significant. Not only the meat packing process but other components such as the port, the landscape, the river (Uruguay) which was used for transport by the corporations that arrived in the country beginning in the XIXth. century and all related to the agro-business", emphasized Boretto Ovalle. Another issue underlined in the industrialization process lived in Fray Bentos was immigration. "Fray Bentos is by far the most cosmopolitan location in Uruguay aside from Montevideo, where the country's main port is located. Looking into the records of over 11.000 workers that passed through the Anglo plant we have identified over 60 different nationalities", said Boretto Ovalle. "Undoubtedly Fray Bentos is where the export industry of the River Plate was launched, a strategic location next to a deep river and in the heart of the cattle industry. No wonder the famed corned beef was exported to almost a hundred countries".