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as to the methods of inspection adopted, are set out in the report, and attention is directed to the absence of systematic
inspection by a sanitary authority of the fish brought in to London. We are of opinion that the staff
at present engaged in food inspection is small, and in this connection we may state that we deemed it necessary in
May, 1906, to call the attention of the Bermondsey Metropolitan Borough Council to the need for the appointment
by them of a special food inspector.
With regard to the actual inspection of food brought into the county, it needs to be clearly understood " that
it is not possible, even if it were desirable, to inspect in detail all the food stuffs entering the port," and again the
ideal aimed at must necessarily be that of providing an efficient detective agency, which will serve to bring to light
the underhand methods of the dishonest trader, rather than that of establishing a scheme of inspection in detail.
There are many obstacles in the way of efficient inspection under existing conditions. One of those, to which
much importance was attached at a public local enquiry held by the Local Government Board, in 1903, was the
difficulty of obtaining knowledge as to the arrival in the port of consignments of food—a difficulty not now experienced,
however, in districts possessing special inspectors. The examination of goods in a ship's hold or during transference
from the ship to lighters is practically an impossibility, and the right to examine food stuffs in transit appears to be
open to dispute, and Dr. Hamer refers to the time unprofitably spent by inspectors in following goods from place
to place and achieving by diplomacy that for which no legal right can be claimed, and points out that, given a place
in which to inspect, there must then be made available the labour necessary for the manipulation, incidental to
inspection, of packages of goods, and also provision to enable the inspector to purchase from the owner such articles
as must inevitably be rendered unfit for consumption, e-g., tinned foods, as the result of being opened for examination,
the use of public money for such a purpose as the last mentioned finding its parallel in the procedure under the
Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. We are of opinion, however, that the experience gained during recent years in connection
with food inspection conclusively demonstrates the need of supplementing and co-ordinating the existing local
inspectorates, and " evolving a system of control which, while causing the least possible interference with trade
in food stuffs generally, will deal effectively with the fraudulent trader."
The present system constitutes posts of observation, it is true, but these are so isolated from one another that
the dealer in unsound food readily learns how to avoid them, and it is indeed obvious that, as the fraudulent trader
will not on his own initiative court inspection of his goods, there is need of a system which will bring the inspector
to the goods of the fraudulent trader. In illustration of this need, attention is drawn to the proceedings with regard
to a number of carcases damaged before reaching London, owing to a breakdown of refrigerating machinery, and which
were not brought to Smithfield, as in the ordinary course, but taken direct from a London railway station to a cold
store, and only seized quite by accident, as it were, in part at that cold store and part at a retail butcher's premises
in Stepney, its ultimate destination.
Dealing with the disposal of trade refuse, we note the facilities afforded to dishonest traders for obtaining,
through contractors or otherwise, unsound food, which is subsequently disguised by tinning or potting, and ultimately
sold for human consumption, and urge the adoption of the principle that condemned food should be destroyed by the
sanitary authorities themselves.
Another point dealt with in the report is the need for special supervision in the case of particular classes of
premises used in connection with the storage or manipulation of food. The Council on 28th February, 1905 (p. 685),
ordered a report prepared by the medical officer on cold storage in London to be sent to the Local Government Board
with a request that the Board would consider the suggestions that such premises should be registered, and that a health
authority should have power similar to that given by the existing Dairies and Cowsheds Orders, under which premises
before being used, are required to be approved as being structurally fitted for the purposes contemplated, and should
be subsequently subject to inspection. We hold that premises at which sausage-making, potted meat manufacture,
and various preservation processes are carried on should be dealt with on the same lines.
We are of opinion that the facts contained in these reports should be brought to the notice of the Local Government
Board for their information in connection with the framing of any regulations to be made by the Board, and
we recommend—-
That a copy of the report on the inspection of food by riparian sanitary authorities be sent to the Local
Government Board, and that the report be placed on sale.
The Court of Common Council of the City of London has taken an important step in adopting
certain resolutions on the recommendation of their Sanitary Committee.
The resolutions are as follows : —
(1) "The necessity of forthwith promoting legislation for the compulsory inspection, at
the time of slaughter, of all animals (together with the viscera) intended for the food of man, as
the only reliable system for the protection of the public and ensuring such inspection being
made by a veterinary surgeon or other recognised expert.
(2) That all meat found free from disease after such inspection shall be officially stamped.
(3) That all foreign meat be required to comply with the same standard as that of homekilled
meat, and that the Government should be responsible for the maintenance of such standard.
(4) That, with regard to boxed and boned fresh meat, arrangements should be made for
the exclusion from the United Kingdom of any class of meat which is packed in such a way
as to prevent inspection or the possibility of the detection of disease, or which contravenes
the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis; and
(5) That the report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis should be issued at the earliest
possible date."
Dr. Collingridge reports moreover that " In support of their views the Corporation have recently
decided to abolish the private slaughter houses at the market under their control at Islington, and are
now erecting in their place a public abattoir on the most approved principle. This new departure offers
a very favourable opportunity for the Corporation to institute a system of marking all meat slaughtered
that is found by their inspectors to be wholesome, and is a step that would in all probability be followed
by every municipality alive to modern requirements where the public health is concerned."
In connection with supervision of the meat supply the condition most urgently needed is inspection
at the time of slaughter and the institution of a system of marking meat so as to enable the consumer to
distinguish between meat which has been inspected at that time, and that which has not been so inspected.
In the last annual report it was pointed out that the Danish Government had provided for the marking of
slightly salted bacon imported into this country, as evidence that it had complied with the requirements
as to inspection. Dr. Collingridge states that So far as Denmark and Holland are concerned the