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Slaughtering methods for animals intended for the food of Jews are excepted,
I brought this circular to the notice of our slaughterers by sending them a.
copy of the Board's circular, and I asked them for an expression of their
views. Only one of the six responded, and his opinion was that, in the case
of sheep, no improvement in the present method was necessary.
5. Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops. There are two
cow-keepers now in the district, two less than last year; and only twenty-four
cows are owned by these keepers. It is to be regretted that building operations
are slowly but surely pushing the dairy farmers further afield. The bulk of
the milk supply of Edmonton is brought in from places many miles distant,
Derbyshire for instance, and of the circumstances connected with the health
of the cows, their stabling, and the handling of the milk from the cow to*
the consumer, we are absolutely ignorant ; and there are still Rural District
Councils in existence who have not adopted the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops
Orders, and more who have adopted them, but do not encourage their
officers to see them properly carried out. So far as is known, Edmonton does
not send any milk into the County of London.
There were 31 purveyors of milk on our register at the end of the
year.
My Council, two years ago, and again this year, informed the County
Council that in their opinion the regular examination of milch cows for
tuberculous disease of the udder should be undertaken by the veterinary
surgeon employed by the County.
6. Unsound Food. In September, 1908, the Local Government
Board used their powers under Sec. I., Public Health (Regulations as to Food)'
Act, 1907. and issued two sets of Regulations accompanied by an explanatory
circular. These are directly interesting to Port Sanitary Authorities, but
indirectly to Inland Authorities, whoss poor people purchase and eat large
quantities of food imported from overseas. Inspector Winter and myself hold!
the certificate of the Royal Sanitary Institute as Inspector of Meat and Foods.
My Inspectors regularly, and I myself at (purposely) irregular intervals, visit
the coster stalls on the Green and at Angel Bridge. The officials of the Middlesex
County Council frequently take samples of milk, food and drugs from
tradesmen in Edmonton, and successful prosecutions have been instituted by
the County when adulteration or substitution was revealed on analysis by theCounty
Chemists.
7. Offensive Trades. None of the six trades specified in Section.
112 of the Public Health Act, 1875, are carried on in the District, unless it
be whale-bone boiling, of which there is one small business here.