View report page

85
The provisions of the Public Health (Meat) Regulations, 1924,
have been brought to the notice of the occupiers of these slaughterhouses.
The provisions of the by-laws as to the marking of carcases,
which, in my opinion, should have been made obligatory, have not
been adopted by the proprietors. The requirements as to giving
notice of intention to slaughter have, however, been rigidly
enforced.
Butchers' Shops.
The number of butchers' shops in the Borough at the beginning
of the year 1925 was 90. Four new shops were opened during the
year and one closed, making a total of 93 butchers' premises carrying
on business at the end of the year.
All butchers' shops in the Borough are systematically inspected,
and, in the main, they are well kept and provided with cold storage
facilities. During the year 1,173 inspections of these premises were
carried out by the Council's Food Inspector.
Public Health (Meat) Regulations, 1924.
These Regulations, made under the Public Health (Regulations
as to Food) Act, 1907, came into force on the 1st April, 1925. The
principal part of the Regulations deals with slaughter-houses and
slaughtering, and is designed to secure the inspection, by competent
officials, of all animals slaughtered. This part of the Regulations,
so far as Battersea is concerned, is not of great importance,
as there are only two slaughter-houses now remaining in the Borough,
and in only one of these is any regular slaughtering carried on.
Part III. of the Regulations deals with the marking of carcases,
and is not obligatory on slaughter-house proprietors.
Part IV. deals with matters relating to the cleanliness of meat
stalls.
Part V. deals with cleanliness, &c., of shops and stores.
Part VI. deals with transport and handling.
It is with Parts IV., V. and VI. that the Council are mainly
concerned. The object is to protect meat stored or in course of
transit or exposed for sale in stalls, shops and stores from risk of
contamination. On the issue of the Regulations steps were taken
by the Council with a view to enforcing compliance by all meat
retailers in the Borough. Owing, however, to the opposition of the
Trade to the interpretation placed on the Regulations by the
Sanitary Authority, administrative difficulty has been experienced in
carrying them into effect. The Ministry of Health, after conferences
with the Trade representatives, issued a circular in which it was
stated (inter alia) that the provision of glass fronts to butchers' shops