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26. MEAT INSPECTION AND ANIMAL PROTECTION
MEAT INSPECTION REGULATIONS
The large factory slaughterhouse at Acton is engaged in the slaughtering and
processing of pigs by a moving line system dealing with approximately 327 carcases
an hour. The Council maintains a staff of authorised meat inspectors and assistants
to carry out the provisions of the Meat Inspection Regulations, 1963, as amended by
the Meat Inspection (Amendment) Regulations, 1966. These amending Regulations
came into operation in September and provide further measures necessary to bring about
full inspection of all home-killed meat before it leaves the slaughterhouse. They
empower local authorities to fix the times at which slaughtering may take place in
any private slaughterhouse; prohibit the removal of meat from a slaughterhouse until it
has been inspected and stamped and make certain changes in the inspection procedure
in the principal Regulations.
With the change in the detailed inspection of pigs as required by these
Regulations, it was found necessary to increase the inspection team to 10. The work
still remained exacting and tiring but, with 12 authorised meat inspectors, it was
possible to commence a system of rest days in October when summer leave had
finished. This resulted in a reduction in the amount of overtime worked and an
appreciation of this facility by the staff concerned.
The Slaughterhouse (Hygiene) (Amendment) Regulations, 1966, were made in
October and will come into operation in February, 1967. They prohibit the retention
in a slaughterhouse of any carcase of an animal slaughtered elsewhere unless special
conditions are complied with; limit, except where an authorised officer gives his
consent, and subject to certain conditions, to 72 hours the period which any animal
intended for slaughter may be kept in a slaughterhouse; impose an obligation on an
occupier of a slaughterhouse to keep the lairage clean; and prohibit the use of wiping
cloths in dressing of carcases but until 1st November, 1968 a wiping cloth may be
used on any carcase or offal, if it is sterilised before use, and used on only one
carcase and its associated offal before resterilisation.
Tables 15 and 16 give details of meat inspection carried out during the year.
POULTRY INSPECTION
There are no poultry processing and packing premises in the Borough.
DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACT, 1950
The Borough remained free of notifiable diseases throughout the year. No
prosecutions or official cautions under the Act were made.
In August and September foot and mouth disease occurred in Northumberland,
whilst an isolated outbreak was notified in West Sussex. In neither instance was the
Borough involved in any licensing procedure.
Mr. J. A. Morris, M.R.C.V.S., continued in his duties under the Act at Southall
Market, and authorised 52 market sales under the Regul ation of the Movement of Swine
Order, 1959, and issued 574 movement licences authorising 12,548 pigs to be moved
out of the market. Of 22 vehicles inspected, no contraventions were found.
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