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106
Owing to the size and fatness of these pigs they were unsuitable for
marketing as fresh or salt pork, and nearly the whole consignment was
converted into bacon which, I am informed, fetched a fair price.
There seems to be no object whatever in shipping a diseased pig, as the
suppliers are under contract to take back all pigs rejected by the local
examiner.
When asked in the House of Commons as to whether or no it was possible
to distinguish Chinese Pork when exposed for sale from English or Irish
pork, the President of the Local Government Board replied :
"I do not think it would be possible to distinguish Chinese Pork from
"English or Irish, except in its fresh or uncured condition, when the
"Inspector might be able to say that the pork had been frozen, and
" therefore was probably not English or Irish."
In view of the importance of this question of the wholesale import of more
or less doubtful pigs from China, the Court of Common Council referred the
whole question of imported Chinese pigs to the Sanitary and the Port
Sanitary Committees for consideration and report.
IMPORTATION OF IMMATURE CALVES.
Adverting to a note in the Report for 1908 in which it was stated that the
attention of the Netherlands Government had been directed to the exportation
from that country of immature calves, some correspondence on the subject
ensued between myself and the Consul-General for the Netherlands in this
country.
I have since been informed that according to a Ministerial Resolution of the
29th November last, the Government Inspectors are not allowed to pass for
export to Great Britain and Ireland, calves which, without heart, skin and
intestines, weigh less than 21½ kilos., equivalent to 47.3 lbs.
This is satisfactory as being approximate to the minimum weight allowed
to be sold in the City, viz., 48 lbs.
IMPORTED PARASITIC COLONIAL BEEF.
In November last a question of some importance arose in connection with
a consignment of Queensland beef, as a large percentage of it was found to
contain a parasite embedded in (a capsule lying in the connective tissue
between the fatty and muscular layers of the flank and brisket.