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96
As a result of many investigations in Finsbury and after negotiation
with the owners, it was eventually decided that none of
the quarters should pass into circulation unless the flanks and
briskets had been first removed. These removed narts were retained
by the owners and sold for soap boiling. Near the stifle
joint the parasites were usually superficial and were cut out—the
hind quarters were then passed as fit for food.
The examination of this frozen meat took up a considerable
amount of the meat inspector's time. A request was made that
the Borough should, for the purposes of examination, be construed
as part of the Port Sanitary Authority, and it was suggested that
an order of the Local Government Board so constituting it should
be applied for.
This was considered by the Public Health Committee.
It was felt, however, that as this work was cast by statute upon
the Port Sanitary Authority, and as in actual practice it was
found to interfere with the effective inspection of meat in the
rest of the Borough, that no order should be applied for.
At the end of the year it was arranged that the flanks and
briskets should be cut off in Australia and retained there.
These worm nests in appearance might well be mistaken for
tuberculous glands, and there is reason to believe that they were
so mistaken. They differ, of course, not only in microscopic
appearance, but also in that they occur in places where these
glands are absent. Still, this resemblance might well induce
dealers in diseased meat to believe that if worm nests could be
cut out and the rest of the meat passed into circulation that the
same highly dangerous course might be adopted with meat containing
"kernels" or tuberculous glands.
It is a great pity that this worm-stricken Australian meat was
ever placed upon the market here. There is little doubt that the
reputation of Australian products has suffered somewhat in consequence.