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chopped up finely, and passed through the mincing machine, spices, garlic,
etc., are added in order to disguise its offensive smell. If I knew exactly the
time the operation took place, I could arrange that the Sanitary Inspector
should call and examine the meat previous to its being minced.
The way the meat in the butchers' shop is hung, or exposed for sale, adds
to the chances it has of becoming infected. When meat is hung in front of
the shop, the window being removed, it is liable to become infected by means
of dust from the streets, although it is true that bacteria on the outside of the
meat can easily be destroyed in the process of cooking.
The meat in the shops is constantly examined by the various inspectors.
Fully 95 per cent, of the meat sold in the district is that of animals slaughtered
in slaughterhouses outside the Borough.
3—Meat in Tripe-Dressers' Shops.
There are six tripe dressers' shops in the Borough. Two of these boil
cats'-meat in the same room in which human food is boiled, and afterwards
sell it in the same shop in which human food is sold.
There has been a great improvement during the last year or two in this
respect.
In July, 1901, proceedings were taken against a tripe-dresser for having
diseased livers, tripe, etc., deposited on the premises for the purpose of being
prepared for human food. He was fined £20. He had three shops; cats'meat
and human food were indiscriminately mixed in the boiling rooms, as
well as in the shop. His defence was, that the diseased stuff would only be
used for cats'-meat and not for human food. As diseased livers were found in
the same tub as good healthy ones, his defence was not accepted by the
Magistrate. Soon after his conviction the three shops were closed. Two
years ago I seized some diseased livers in a slaughterhouse. The defence of
the butcher was, that he sold, under contract, all the livers to a certain tripedresser.
If any of these were found to be diseased, they would be used for
cats'-meat, and an equivalent money allowance made for them. On this tripedresser's
premises cats'-meat and human food were boiled in the same boilers
and sold in the same shop. The diseased meat, it was stated, would not be
used for human food. When his assistant, who was employed in the boiling
room, was asked at the Police Court proceedings what the appearance of a
liver was under a certain diseased condition, which is a common one, he
replied that he did not know—a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. The
present conditions in the above shop show a decided improvement. The
boiler used for cooking cats'-meat is labelled to that effect, and human food is