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is obtained that an inspection has been made by the local sanitary
authority of the district in which the exporters firm is situated.
These countries take such measures as will ensure that the foods
which are imported have been produced under proper conditions
and under sanitary supervision.
The primary object of meat inspection is to safeguard the
public health and to prevent any meat being sold for human consumption
which may be deleterious to the consumer, and not only
this but an adequate system should prevent frauds being practised,
such as the substitution of inferior types of meat or meat products
when the purchaser is paying for the best, even if not actually
in themselves harmful.
Under the conditions which obtain to-day, the housewife
must protect herself. When she buys an ordinary joint of meat,
she can be fairly certain that it is not diseased, as it is too risky to
expose a diseased carcase for sale, but even in these circumstances,
it would be as well for her to buy only from a reputable butcher.
When it comes to buying meat products such as sausages or
canned meats, the only sure protection the housewife has is the
reputation of the firm of manufacturers.
It has been frequently pointed out that one of the greatest
stumbling blocks to a better and more uniform system of meat inspection
is the presence of so many private slaughter-houses.
These undoubtedly are a menace, because in most of them the inspection
is very inadequate, even when it is being attempted. But
there is another menace which is more potent then many of us
wish to admit. There is far too much illicit slaughtering going on
up and down the country. Last October, the Sanitary Inspector
seized some meat in a motor lorry in a garage in Horn Lane. The
lorry contained 1 pig's carcase with head, 3 calves carcases, 3
oxen's heads, 1 ox's heart, 3 oxens' livers, 1 mesentery and 1 oxtail.
With the exception of one calf's carcase, and the ox tail
and ox heart, all the meat was diseased and utterly unfit for human
consumption. It was all infested with tubercles. Proceedings
were taken and the man was fined £33 and costs. Although we
succeeded in obtaining a conviction, we were unable to ascertain
the source of the meat or where it had been slaughtered, &c.
Shortly afterwards, a message was received by us from the
Finsbury Council that this same person had endeavoured to sell
some diseased meat to a butcher in Charterhouse Street. The
Finsbury Council when they heard of the previous conviction, decided
to trace to its source the condemned meat and a most extraordinary
state of affairs was disclosed.