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2. The meat shall only be released to reputable manufacturers to
be nominated by the Ministry of Food.
3. The Medical Officers of Health of the districts in which such
manufacturers' premises are situated give their consent to
receiving the meat into their area and to deal with it under
their supervision.
4. The manufacturers ther.selves to furnish your Medical Officer
with a signed guarantee that the meat shall be removed to their
premises and that the local Medical Officer of Health shall be
immediately notified when the goods arrive at such premises;
none of the material shall be removed from such premises without
the permission of the local Medical Officer of Health; and that
the material shall be used for manufacturing purposes only,
involving the boiling of the meat at some stage during the
processing.
These conditions were accepted and the Ministry of
Food subsequently informed your Medical Officer of the names and
addresses of five reputable manufacturers who were prepared to take
the meat. The local Medical Officers and the manufacturers were
communicated with as indicated above and as soon as the necessary
agreement was received from each, your Medical Officer gave
instructions for the meat to be released from the Dock.
The carcases were released as follows:-
650 carcases to each of two manufacturers in the City of
London area.
2,000 carcases and 650 carcases respectively to two
manufacturers in the Borough of Finsbury, and
2,414 carcases to a manufacturer in the Letchworth Urban
District Council area.
The following is a report made to the Port Health
Committee on the subject of "caseous" mutton:-
PUBLIC HEALTH (IMPORTED FOOD) REGULATIONS, 1937.
Your Worshipful Committee will recollect that your
Medical Officer has from time to time drawn your attention to the
difficulties that have been experienced for some time past in
carrying out the inspection of certain imported foodstuffs,
particularly meat, in accordance with the requirements of the
Imported Food Regulations and to the fact that much of the meat at
present coming into this country took the form of boned meat, often
in small pieces, and that, as such, fell within the category of
scrap meat, which is 'prohibited meat' under the Regulations.
Your Medical Officer, and your Inspectors working
under him, have felt it necessary in the present state of shortage
of foodstuffs to turn a blind eye to this contravention of the
Regulations, particularly if they have been reasonably satisfied
that the material is sound and healthy and fit for human consumption
and carries the approved certificate of ante and post mortem
inspection in the country of origin.
Recent consignments of boned mutton and mutton scrap
emanating from the Argentine have, however, been found to show
evidence of disease and the following is a specific instance.
On the 3rd July the "Highland Brigade" arrived with
56o bags of boned mutton, each bag weighing approximately 120-lbs.
A proportion of these bags was unloaded overside and dispatched to
Nelsons Wharf, Southwark, and a smaller proportion went to a Cold
Store in Finsbury, leaving 314 bags in No.6 Cold Store, Royal Albert
Dock.
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