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facturers and manufacturers of sausages. By many a crooked path the
carcase may find its way into the canning or mincing room. The tainted
meat may then either be canned or minced and converted into sausages.
If intended for sausages a colouring matter is frequently added to give it
a fresh appearance. Oxide of Iron or some of the aniline dyes are most commonly
used under some fancy name for this purpose. Spices and sweet herbs
are also added in such large quantities, that the tainted smell and taste are
disguised, and it is impossible to state whether the meat is unfit to eat or not.
Though the unwholesome character of the meat is thus masked, it does not
follow that it has been rendered wholesome. On the contrary, its consumption
may be followed by disastrous results.
It may be argued that such meat should be seized, but Inspectors are very
chary of taking minced meat before a Magistrate for an order to destroy. The
Magistrate has to satisfy himself that the food submitted is unfit for human
consumption. The only means for detection at his disposal are the sense of
smell, and the sense of sight. The addition of the ingredients mentioned
above will very effectually disguise the usual appearance and smell of tainted
meat, and on that account the Magistrate will possibly refuse an order to have
it condemned. He may believe all that is told him by the Sanitary Officer,
but as the Law requires the Magistrate to be satisfied that it is unwholesome,
and as he cannot see or smell anything wrong with it, owing to its disguise, he
may refuse to grant an Order of condemnation. As a result, the Sanitary
Inspector is placed in an unenviable position. Later on in this report, I will
refer to an occasion when the Magistrate at Old Street police court refused
to condemn meat which was quite unfit for human consumption, ard which in
my opinion was going to be made into sausages.
A third method of dealing with frozen meat prior to offering it for sale, is
to put it through a process known as " Defrosting." This is brought about
by various means; one of the best methods is to put the meat into an air-proof
chamber in which liquid ammonia is circulated under pressure through pipes
placed on the walls of the chambers. The result is, that the frost is removed
from the meat gradually, and without loss of blood or myosin, and the bloom
on the surface of the meat is excellent, and would in many cases lead one to
think it was that of home killed meat. This meat, though excellent in quality,
does not receive a ready market owing to the extra price paid for its defrosting.
It is unfortunate that some system is not introduced to identify frozen
meat from prime fresh meat. Butchers in my opinion should be compelled to
place a mark on all frozen or refrigerated meat so as to distinguish it from