London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hornchurch 1954
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornchurch]
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43
that, however, if by law there is no means of preventing the resumption
of slaughtering under the circumstances noted, then clearly one must
accept the situation and make the best possible bargain.
Apart from persisting in my general disagreement in principle with
the resumption of slaughtering in the middle of one of the busiest parts
of our area, I must say that so far the situation has resolved itself on
far more favourable lines than might have happened.
The establishment is conducted in a spirit of close co-operation
with us and with due regard to the susceptibilities of others. Considerable
trouble has been taken in bringing the buildings up to a modern
standard, one of the results being that your Inspectors can now carry
out their meat inspection under circumstances which enable them to do
full justice to the job.
Since we only have one private slaughterhouse the matter of meat
inspection has been considerably simplified.
Perhaps the situation could be summed up by saying that in the
event it has measured up rather to our expectations than to our fears.
| Cattle excluding Cows | Cows | Calves | Sheep and Lambs | Pigs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number killed (if known) | 249 | 24 | 131 | 815 | 633 |
| Number inspected | 249 | 24 | 131 | 815 | 633 |
| - | - | - | - | - | |
| Carcases of which some part or organ was condemned | 20 | 2 | - | 15 | 1 |
| Percentage of the number inspected affected with disease other than tuberculosis | 8% | 8.3% | - | 1.9% | .16% |
| 1 | - | - | - | - | |
| Carcases of which some part or organ was condemned | 17 | 2 | - | - | 19 |
| Percentage of the number inspected affected with tuberculosis | 7.2% | 8.3% | - | - | 3% |
Centralised Slaughtering.
The question of a central local authority owned abattior has of
course engaged your attention and will doubtless continue so to do
until clarification of future national plans is available. It does not at
the moment seem possible to go further into this point since so far as
I am aware plans, if in fact any exist, covering this district are in such
an early stage of development as to render speculation quite profitless.