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82
The following food stuff was surrendered in writing by the owners, and was
destroyed as trade refuse:—
120 boxes of Tomatoes.
34 Frozen Rabbits.
400 Herrings.
201bs. of Beef.
2¾ sacks of Peas.
1 box of Smoked Haddocks.
27 tins of Tomatoes.
1 „ Pears.
5 „ Apricots.
1 „ Ham.
70 „ Condensed Milk.
I visited various premises where tinned food is kept for sale, and found
it is the custom that when tins become "blown" they are put on one side to
be returned to the wholesale dealer and an allowance is made by him to the
retailer. It would be interesting to trace the ultimate destination of these
blown tins after being returned to the wholesale firm.
I experienced great difficulty in examining tinned food, owing to the
absence of any indication on the outside of the tin of the length of time such,
food had been tinned. As the blowing of the tin is only evidence of the
generation of decomposing gases, and as fungoid growths sometimes take place
which can only be detected upon opening the tin, a large amount of at least to
say suspicious tinned food must find its way to the public, for if an inspector
opened apparently sound tins the vendor could demand payment, and thus
make the examination of tinned food somewhat expensive, there being little
or no sale for opened tins.
I also found some difficulty in inspecting the "offal" in tripe-dresser shops,
where human food is sold side by side with the food of lower animals, because
there is no means of distinguishing that which is intended for man and that
which is intended by the vendor for dogs' and cats' food.
The following food was seized and destroyed by the order of a magistrate:—
1 Pig's head.
501bs. of Beef and Pork and 161bs. of Fat in course of preparation for
sausages.
One carcase of tuberculous Pork The vendor said he did not know the
pork was diseased, for when I visited the shop one Saturday evening I found
the carcase, which weighed 8 stone, had been cut up and was hanging in
various parts of the shop with sound meat, and some joints were in pickle,
and it was only by carefully examining the lymphatic glands, pleura, and
peritoneum that I was able to pick out the diseased pork. The whole of the
carcase, with the exception of about 41b., which had been sold before my visit,
was destroyed. This was Dutch pork, and had been purchased in the open
market. Proceedings were taken against the owner who was fined £10 and
2s. costs.