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shall not be removed from the place specified in the notice, without the permission of the medical officer
of health ; the Justice may make an order for its detention or disposal, if he is of opinion it is unfit
for food. The second series (foreign meat) deals with three classes of meat. Class I. consists of foreign
boneless meat which is imported in the form of scraps, trimmings or other pieces not sufficiently
identifiable with definite parts of a carcase, and which has not before importation been made ready
for human consumption in the form of sausage, or of other prepared or manufactured article of food;
imported tripe, tongues or kidneys to which certain chemical preservatives have been applied;
and several parts of a pig not prepared before importation as bacon or ham, and not contained
in a package with an "official certificate." Class II. comprises foreign meat in the form of the
entire carcase of the pig which has not before importation been salted, cured, pickled, dried, or
smoked or otherwise prepared as bacon or ham, and is without the head in its natural state of attachment
to the carcase, and is without the lymphatic glands about the throat and any other part of
the carcase in their natural positions; and Class III. includes foreign meat which is in the form of several
parts of the carcase of a pig, or of other edible parts of a pig which has not before importation been
salted, cured, pickled, dried or smoked, or otherwise prepared as bacon or ham, which is not and does
not comprise any foreign meat of Class I. and which is in a box, case, receptacle or packet with an "official
certificate." Foreign meat unclassed consists of foreign meat other than that of the three classes
mentioned. The Officer of Customs is required to detain for examination by the medical officer of health
any foreign meat which appears to be of Class I. or Class II., and also of Class III. if he is of opinion that
the meat of this class requires examination. Meat of Class I. is to be destroyed unless the importer
re-exports it at his own expense, or furnishes proof that it is not intended for human consumption. With
respect to meat of Class II., the carcases of pigs, not prepared as bacon or ham, which are imported without
the lymphatic glands, and from which the head has been removed, are to be dealt with in the
same way as meat of Class I. The medical officer of health is required to examine foreign meat which
has been detained, and to give either a notice forbidding its removal for any purpose other than exportation,
or a certificate that it may be removed, but he is not to give a certificate and must give
a notice as regards foreign meat of Class I. or Class II., and also as regards foreign meat of Class III.
or foreign unclassed meat, if it is, in his opinion, notwithstanding the "official certificate," diseased,
unsound, unwholesome, or unfit for human consumption.
The Local Government Board caused to be inserted in the London Gazette of the 22nd January,
1909, a notice containing a schedule of labels and marks declared to be admissible as "official certificates"
in respect of foreign meat which consists of pork or other edible parts of the pig which has been
subjected to inspection in Denmark, the Netherlands, the Dominion of Canada and New Zealand.
For the purposes of inspection of food under these regulations, the consent of the Local Government
Board has to be obtained for the appointment and payment of the persons to be employed. In
connection therewith, the Board desire to be furnished with a statement showing the experience
possessed by the proposed officer, and whether he has obtained any special qualification such as
the certificate in regard to meat and food inspection of the Royal Sanitary Institute.
The regulations authorise the Local Government Board by Order to co-ordinate the
administration of sanitary authorities (port sanitary authorities and the sanitary authorities of districts
abutting on the port) and local authorities (other sanitary authorities), and Orders for this purpose
were issued at the end of the year.
Disinfection.
The principal alterations made in the arrangements for disinfection in London sanitary areas
are the following:—Until 1908 the disinfection of infected articles from Stoke Newington had been
carried out at the disinfecting station of the Hackney Borough Council. A disinfecting station has now
been provided in Stoke Newington to which are taken infected articles from that district. At this
station provision has also been made for the cleansing of verminous persons. A new disinfecting station
having two Washington-Lyons apparatus and two boilers has been provided in Deptford.
During the year, at the request of the Local Government Board, the Paddington Borough Council
approached the Kensington Borough Council with a view to arrangements being made for joint use
by the two authorities of the disinfecting station in Kensington, but no agreement had been made by
the end of the vear.
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The Kensington and the Battersea Borough Councils encourage poor persons to send their bedding
to the disinfecting station in those boroughs, when disinfection is required, by lending to them bedding
belonging to the borough council while their own is undergoing disinfection. Dr. Corbett reports that
bedding was thus lent on 22 occasions in Kensington and Dr. Lennane on 331 occasions in Battersea
during the vear.