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SUMMARY.
Australia. New Zealand.
Total Quarters Beef 136,360 66,334
„ Carcases Pigs — 248
„ „ Sheep — 391
The Transport and Handling of Chilled and Frozen Meat in
the Royal Docks.
(By Inspector C. E. Wright.)
The transport and handling of chilled and frozen meat cargoes constitutes
a major part of the work within the Royal Docks, the supervision of which is one of
the principal duties of the Sanitary Inspector in this area.
On an average 30 vessels arrive each month, fully laden with chilled and frozen
meat, the total weight of meat landed during 1935 being 687,000 tons. The principal
countries of production are: South America (Argentine Uruguay, Brazil and
Patagonia), Australia, New Zealand, and small quantities arrive from South Africa,
Iceland and the United States of America.
In recent years there has been an increasing importation of chilled beef, as opposed
to frozen beef. Chilled beef is suspended from the deckhead on hooks and chains,
in chambers specially constructed for the carriage of this product; frozen beef is
stowed in bulk in an horizontal position. Where chilled beef is brought long
distances and is on board ships from 40 to 70 days, it is generally stowed in specially
constructed air-tight chambers, and the meat treated with a 10 per cent, concentration
of C02 gas to retard the growth of mould.
It will be appreciated from the large quantities of meat products discharged
within this area that large numbers of men have to be employed in discharging the
meat from ship, handling it on the quay, and removing it by means of hand trucks or
electric bogies, to be loaded in insulated lighters, railway trucks and motor or horsedrawn
vehicles, in which it is conveyed to all parts of the country for immediate
consumption, or storage in one of the many cold stores in London and the Docks.
The procedure of discharging meat from the ship to the lighter or vehicle is as
follows: Men employed in the ship's hold have their boots and legs covered with
hessian or canvas and, in addition, running boards are placed over the working tier of
carcases to prevent contamination of the meat. These men place the carcases or
quarters in the rope and canvas, or flexible (self-cleansing) metal and wire slings.
Each sling holds about 15 to 20 beef quarters, 40 pork carcases, 60 mutton carcases or