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London County Council.
THE INSPECTION OF MILK AND MEAT.
Report by the medical officer on the statements of deputations who attended before the
Public Health Committee, on 3rd November, 1898, on the question of the proposed
abolition of private slaughterhouses in London, and on the representations subsequently
made to the Committee on the subject.
(Printed by order of the Public Health Committee, 10th November, 1898.)
The chairman of the Public Health Committee has instructed me to report on the statements
made by the several gentlemen who, on the 3rd instant, addressed the Committee on behalf of the meat
and cattle section of the London Chamber of Commerce, the Butchers' Trade Society, the Central
Meat and Poultry Markets Association, and the Metropolitan Cattle and Sheep Trade Association.
It is desirable, in the first instance, to indicate the effect of the adoption by the Council of the
recommendations embodied in the report of the Committee, which is now before the Council, and
for this purpose to state briefly the reasons which have led the Committee to make those recommendations,
which are as follows—
"(a) That in the opinion of the Council it is desirable that, as a first step towards ensuring the
"proper inspection of meat, private slaughterhouses should cease to exist in London, and that butchers
"should in substitution be afforded such facilities as are necessary for the killing of animals in public
"slaughterhouses to be erected by the Council.
"(6) That a copy of this report and of the Council's resolution thereon be Bent to the Local
"Government Board, with an intimation that the Council is prepared to accept such responsibilities as
"may be necessary to give effect in London to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on
"Tuberculosis, and that the Board be asked whether they will include in any legislation introduced by
"them in connection with the .Royal Commission's report the provisions which would be necessary for
"this purpose."
In 1890 a Royal Commission was appointed " to inquire and report what is the effect, if any, of
food derived from tuberculous animals on human health, and, if prejudicial, what are the circumstances
and conditions with regard to the tuberculosis in the. animal which produce that effect upon man."
The conclusions at which this Royal Commission arrived may be best stated in their own
words—
Recapitulation.
77. To recapitulate the information we have obtained from the witnesses who favoured us with their
experience, and from the researches of our three enquirers, together with our own conclusions:—
We have obtained ample evidence that food derived from tuberculous animals can produce tuberculosis
in healthy animals. The proportion of animals contracting tuberculosis after experimental use
of such food, is different in one and another class of animals; both carnivora and herbivora are
susceptible, and the proportion is high in pigs. In the absence of direct experiments on human subjects,
we infer that man also can acquire tuberculosis by feeding upon materials derived from tuberculous
food-animals.
78. The actual amount of tuberculous disease among certain classes of food-animals is so large as to
afford to man frequent occasions for contracting tuberculous disease through his food. As to the proportion
of tuberculosis acquired by man through his food or through other means, we can form no definite
opinion, but we think it probable that an appreciable part of the tuberculosis that affects man is obtained
through his food.
79. The circumstances and conditions with regard to the tuberculosis in the food-animal which lead
to the production of tuberculosis in man are, ultimately, the presence of active tuberculous matter in the
food taken from the animal and consumed by the man in a raw or insufficiently cooked state.
80. Tuberculous disease is observed most frequently in cattle and in swine. It is found far more
frequently in cattle (full grown) than in calves, and with much greater frequency in cows kept in town
cow-houses than in cattle bred for the express purpose of slaughter. Tuberculous matter is but seldom
found in the meat substance of the carcase, it is principally found in the organs, membranes and glands.
There is reason to believe that tuberculous matter, when present in meat sold to the public, is more
commonly due to the contamination of the surface of the meat with material derived from other diseased
parts, than to disease of the meat itself. The same matter is found in the milk of cows when the udder
has become invaded by tuberculous disease, and seldom or never when the udder is not diseased. Tuberculous
matter in milk is exceptionally active in its operation upon animals fed either with the milk or
with dairy produce derived from it. No doubt the largest part of the tuberculosis which man obtains
through his food is by means of milk containing tuberculous matter.
81. The recognition of tuberculous disease during the life of an animal is not wholly unattended
with difficulty. Happily, however, it can in most cases be detected with certainty in the udders of
milch cows.
82. Provided every part that is the seat of tuberculous matter be avoided and destroyed, and
provided care be taken to save from contamination by such matter the actual meat substance of a
tuberculous animal, a great deal of meat from animals affected by tuberculosis may be eaten without
risk to the consumer.
83. Ordinary processes of cooking applied to meat which has got contaminated on its surface are
probably sufficient to destroy the harmful quality. They would not avail to render wholesome any piece
of meat that contained tuberculous matter in its deeper parts. In regard to milk we are aware of the
preference by English people for drinking cows' milk raw, a practice attended by danger, on account of
possible contamination by pathogenic organisms. The boiling of milk, even for a moment, would
probably be sufficient to remove the very dangerous quality of tuberculous milk.
The instruction to this Commission did not extend to enquiry or report on administrative
procedures available and desirable for controlling the danger to man through the use as food of the
meat and milk of tuberculous animals, and hence in 1896 a second Royal Commission was appointed
for this purpose.
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