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119 public slaughterhouses, 357 private ones and the seven new government
abbatoirs. The de-control brought about by the operation of the
Slaughterhouses Act, 1954, led to some 4,200 slaughterhouses coming
into use. The greater the number of premises, the greater is the difficulty
of ensuring that all meat is inspected. A recent analysis of the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of information submitted by every local
authority with a slaughterhouse in its district, showed that something
like 90 per cent of all meat now receives some degree of inspection by an
officer of a local authority. Of the meat not inspected, some 70 per cent
was pig meat, most of this being produced at bacon factory slaughterhouses.
About 160 local authorities did not achieve 100 per cent inspection.
In about half of these areas, Sunday slaughtering took place regularly
and in a further 1 per cent occasionally. In 14% of the areas, slaughtering
was sometimes carried on at very late or very early hours. The difficulties
of ensuring the inspection of meat which comes about from this killing
being carried out at inconvenient times have been considerably added to
by shortages of staff and of course, more particularly in rural districts, by
the scattered location of the slaughterhouses. A big step towards ensuring
that all meat is inspected would be to keep down the number of premises
at which killing takes place. Another step would be the tightening-up of
the conditions which under present legislation permit of killing taking
place at hours which make supervision difficult and even impossible
where there is limited staff and killing takes place at the same time at
widely distant premises.
The total number of animals slaughtered last year at the four
slaughterhouses in the district was 7,654, a fall on the figure of 9,020 in
1957. This is due to the virtual cessation in the killing of smalls at the
most modern and best equipped slaughterhouse. The amount killed at
the other three centres, none of which were designed for wholesale
business, showed an increase.
The incidence of tuberculosis (1957 figures in brackets) in cattle
other than cows was 5T4 per cent (5.85 per cent); in cows 19.3 per cent
(15.25 per cent); and pigs 2.34 per cent (1.4 per cent). All cases diagnosed
were localised, there being no cases of generalised tuberculosis, as compared
with six cattle and one pig last year. The most common site of infection
is the respiratory system of cattle and cows, and the head of pigs.
Cysticercus bovis, a cause of tape worm in man, again increased,
being found in 32 cattle and cows (27). These animals are infected at
drinking points and on pasture land which have been contaminated by
the faeces of a human carrier of the tape worm.
There was one outbreak of swine fever.
The incidence of other diseases showed a slight increase, possibly the
effect of the abnormally wet weather over the year, being 27.9 per cent
(24.7), in beasts; 35.3 per cent (34.3 per cent) in cows; 22.7 per cent
(18.2 per cent) in pigs; and 9.8 per cent (6 per cent) in sheep.
The total weight of meat condemned at slaughterhouses was 15,405
pounds. (19,883). All was destroyed by incineration at the Wembey
destructor.