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47
and all the Sanitary Inspectors were authorised to enter and
inspect premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether the
above-mentioned Regulations are being observed.
All our male Sanitary Inspectors are qualified Meat Inspectors,
the list of condemned meat and other foods included
in this report being ample testimony of the able manner in which
their work is carried out. The animals slaughtered within the
district are of good class.
The chief benefit of the Public Health (Meat) Regulations,
1924, has been the compulsory notification of slaughter, whereby
the inspection of practically every animal slaughtered within the
district has been made possible. This, of course, entails a considerable
amount of work outside the ordinary office hours, including
Saturday afternoon and Sunday. The London Co-operative
Society, who slaughter for all their 32 shops (29 of which are outside
our area) at their abattoir in Birkbeck Road, require almost
the whole of an Inspector's time.
The bulk of condemned meat is disposed of in their fat
digester by arrangement.
No arrangements have been made for marking meat.
It has been suggested by the Ministry's representatives that
the Meat Regulations are only a beginning. Perhaps some day
we can hope to see the abolition of the meat stall and the compulsory
provision of glass fronts to butchers' shops, the prohibition
of the sale of such articles as dried fruits, sweets, biscuits,
etc. (largely consumed by children) unless properly protected from
the risks of contamination, and when such important articles of
food as butter, cheese and cooked meats must be protected from
the breath of customers who crowd chiefly at the counters of many
of the multiple shops where such commodities are specialised in.
The sale of food, except in sealed containers, from such premises
as oil shops should be strictly forbidden.
Slaughter-houses.