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131
AMERICAN BOXED MEAT.
Several cases occurred last year that have a direct relation to Dr. Buchanan's
opinion quoted above that:—
"Although henceforth, the label ' U.S. Inspected' will no doubt mean
"more than in the past, it would be rash at this stage to place too great
"reliance upon its significance when attached to boxes containing such a
"commodity as scrap meat prepared for export."
The new Regulation known as B.A. (Order No. 157) concerning meat
inspection of the United States Department of Agriculture came into
operation on 25th July, 1906. On the 15th May, 1907, a quantity of plucks
taken from a box bearing the stamp indicating that the contents had been
"inspected and passed," were seized as being diseased. This was by no
means an isolated case, and your Inspectors not infrequently find this label
unreliable.
Another reason for taking exception to the importation of this boxed meat
under present conditions is shown by the fact that a sample taken from a
case containing roughly chopped fore-quarter of beef bearing the U.S. label,
was found on examination by your Public Analyst to contain 0.78 per cent,
of boric acid, equivalent to 54.6 grains per pound, an excessive amount.
The Public have a right to know what it is they are buying, and in my
opinion, when a preservative is added to any article of food or drink, the
fact should be made known to the purchaser by label or otherwise.
There is a further danger to health that may arise from the consumption of
this boxed meat when packed under insanitary conditions, which evidently
prevail at some packing establishments.
Early in September, 1907, the attention of Dr. Chalmers, Medical Officer
of Health for Glasgow, was directed to a consignment of American boxed
meat which had reached Glasgow direct. Upon examination nothing was
discovered suggesting unsoundness in the flesh of the animals at the time of
slaughter, but micro-organisms were present whose normal habitat is the
intestines. By way of explaining their presence in the centre of a mass of
frozen meat, two explanations were advanced.
In the first place the organisms in question, which belong to the coli group,
rapidly penetrate the tissues of animals after slaughter, and so might reach
those portions which were contained in the consignment. This, however, from
the condition of the flesh otherwise, was considered unlikely, the probable
explanation being that due care was not exercised in protecting the surface of
the flesh from direct contamination. The practical result is that the flesh
containing organisms of this character rapidly undergoes decomposition on
thawing, and that the presence of intestinal organisms in flesh food is apt to
induce changes therein which experience has shown to be associated with
ptomaine poisoning.