View report page

On no occasion was it found necessary to seize any articles of
unsound or unwholesome food.
The Public Health (Meat) Regulations, 1924.—The above,
which came into force on the 1st April, 1925, provided for the better
regulation and supervision of slaughter-houses, butchers' shops,
stalls ; and the protection of meat against contamination by dirt
and flies, etc., in transport and handling.
The annual routine inspections were made as a result of which
it was found necessary to send a warning letter to a slaughterman
for a minor infringement against the Regulations. A summons was
also instituted against a butcher for wilfully exposing meat to dust
and flies after due warning from the Meat Inspector. The Magistrate,
however, dismissed the case upon payment of £1 1s. Od. costs.
SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS ACT, 1933.
This Act, which came into force on the 1st January, 1934, had
for its object the licensing of fit and proper persons who alone are
authorised to slaughter, and the humane slaughtering of animals by
firstly stunning them with a mechanically or electrically operated
instrument. The Greenwich Borough Council have not resolved to
exempt sheep and goats from such humane treatment, by exercising
that right invested in them by the Act, but have included all animals
slaughtered in both slaughter-houses and knackers-yards. The use
of the humane killer has been general in this Borough for many years
and the provisions of this Act will not alter materially the existing
mode of slaughter. The licensing of slaughtermen, however, ensures
that all animals are painlessly despatched by experienced men, who
can be held responsible for the cleanliness of the dressed carcases
while in their keeping. The 9 licences granted to slaughtermen in
1934 are still in force.
Slaughter-houses and Knackers Yards. — There were 2
slaughterhouses and 1 knackers yard in the Borough at the end of
1934, all of which are annually licensed, and were duly visited.