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Y.—FOOD.
FOOD PREMISES.
The Licensed slaughter-houses, cow-sheds, and dairies have been regularly
inspected. The bakehouses were also inspected twice during the year, and
the necessary cleansing enforced. From time to time fish-frying shops and
marine stores have been inspected. The markets and market streets were
kept under observation daily, and also on Saturday nights and Sunday
mornings during the summer months.
Slaughter-houses.—In the month of March I presented a Report upon
Private and Public Slaughter-houses, setting out their advantages and disadvantages
respectively, which may again be briefly referred to.
One-fourth of our meat supply is imported dead, and altogether escapes
inspection before and during slaughter, and seeing the rapid rate at which
importation is increasing, it will probably not be many years before one-half of
our meat supply will be imported dead. It may safely be said that with the
imposition of every additional restriction upon home grown and home killed meat,
an additional impetus will be given to the importation of dead meat. Therefore
it behoves us to move charily, or it may be found that in endeavouring to
increase supervision over live and dead meat we may be actually diminishing
it, and we may find ourselves committed to eating meat slaughtered in a
manner that we know not of and in a state of health of which we cannot,
judge. For unless an animal is seen alive and the internal organs examined
during slaughtering, it is difficult and often impossible to judge of the
presence of disease, especially tuberculosis.
The question is, should slaughter-houses be owned and maintained by
private traders or by public authorities ? This again resolves itself into the
question whether slaughter-houses should exist singly and scattered or combined
and centralized. There is not the slightest doubt that by combination
far better premises can be erected remote from dwelling houses and containing
improved lairs, slaughter-chambers, and cold stores with refrigerating
apparatus, than can generally be provided by individual effort. It is highly
improbable that most butchers possessing private slaughter-houses would
voluntarily incur this expense.
In London, there are about 650 slaughter-houses, and from 1500 to 2000
butchers, so that two out of every three butchers are without slaughterhouses,
and the licensing of a slaughter-house must put a valuable premium
upon a butcher's premises. But, it is somewhat surprising that butchers
not possessing slaughter-houses should not have combined before now, either
to construct premises or to urge upon public authorities to construct them.
There are at the Metropolitan Cattle Market in the York Road, N., some
dozen or more slaughter-houses provided, in connection with the market, by
the Corporation of the City of London. But the market does not strike an
observer as being crowded, and although all the slaughter-houses are occupied
there does not appear to be any extra demand. Nevertheless, there may be,
and probably is, a desire amongst the many butchers without slaughterhouses
to have the use of convenient, well-equipped premises, especially if
constructed and maintained at public expense. There is here an opportunity
of providing accommodation, without necessarily threatening those who