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(2) after slaughter, careful inspection of the internal organs, viz., lungs, liver,
spleen, kidneys, &c., because these organs are often affected by disease, of
which there may be little or no evidence in the rest of the carcase;
(3) examination of the serous membranes, that is, the smooth glistening
membranes lining the chest cavity (pleura) and the abdominal cavity
(peritoneum), because these membranes readily show evidence of inflammation
and of tuberculosis;
(4) examination of the lymphatic glands, because these also show evidence of
inflammation, tuberculosis and other diseases;
(5) examination of muscular tissue (or flesh) and of the bones. There are certain
diseased conditions which produce obvious effects in the muscular tissue or
the bones or the bone marrow, but in general these tissues are much less
likely to show naked-eye evidence of disease than are the internal organs,
the serous membranes (pleura and peritoneum) and the lymphatic glands.
The Inspector of imported meat in this country obviously has not the advantage
of the information to be derived from ante-mortem inspection, nor has he the
opportunity of inspecting the internal organs in relation to the carcase from which
they are derived. Lungs and spleens are never shipped, while livers and kidneys
arrive separately as individual organs.
Therefore, even if meat is imported as whole carcases, the Meat Inspector in an
English port cannot have more than the serous membranes, the carcase lymphatic
glands and the muscle and bone to examine. His inspection at best is, consequently,
of much less value than the inspection of home-killed meat in a public abattoir.
If the carcase is cut up into pieces before shipment the value of inspection is
further diminshed. When the pieces all contain some readily accessible glands
and/or some serous membrane he may examine these and may be justified in concluding
that, whatever the condition of the animal at the time of slaughter or of the organs,
the parts of the carcase under inspection are not affected by any disease. But when
the pieces contain neither readily accessible lymph glands nor serous membrane he
has virtually nothing on which to base any opinion, particularly as disease is in any
case less easy to detect in frozen than in fresh meat. When meat is boned another
difficulty arises even if lymphatic glands and serous membranes are present, because
the meat is often so folded and pressed that it is almost impossible to identify the
anatomical land marks which enable the Inspector to locate the lymphatic glands
which he wishes to examine. Thawing out the meat causes much delay and deterioration,
and is not justifiable as a routine procedure, because even after the meat is
thawed the inspection which is then practicable is of only very limited value.
To sum up, the inspection of imported meat even under the most favourable
conditions is necessarily much below the standard obtainable in the inspection of
home-killed meat in a public abattoir. If the cutting up of carcases before shipment
is permitted the value of inspection is diminished more or less in proportion to the
size of the pieces in which the meat arrives.
To turn to legislation, Regulations dealing specially with Imported Meat were
first issued in 1908. From the beginning the Ministry of Health (Local Government
Board at that time) recognised that inspection on arrival in this country could only
be of limited value, and they therefore instituted the Official Certificate, which is
a certificate affixed to overseas meat by a competent authority in the country of
origin, and which is recognised by the Minister of Health as evidence that the meat
is derived from animals which were free from disease at the time of slaughter. Until
1933 the Official Certificate was only required with pork, but since the Public Health
(Imported Food) Amendment Regulations, 1933, beef and mutton must also be
certified. The draft Amendment Regulations, 1934, propose to require meat products,
i.e., canned meat, meat pastes, &c., to bear the Official Certificate.
It is thus apparent that the Ministry of Health have progressively extended the
principle of requiring inspection and certification in the country of origin.