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of which the defrosted bags are a sample, must await the results of
inspection.
The arrival of scrap meat found to be diseased renders
the situation more difficult and when the disease is found in what
is in any case 'prohibited meat' and pressure by the Ministry of Pood
officals is put upon your Medical Officer to release the meat for
manufacture, even under strict conditions of supervision, the
position becomes well nigh intollerable.
Your Medical Officer wonders, therefore, whther the time
has not arrived when the Ministry of Pood should be informed that the
Port Health Authority propose no longer to carry out any inspection
of boned meat under the Imported Pood Regulations either for disease
or for condition and to leave any arrangements for inspection of this
product entirely to the Ministry itself.
The Ministry might also be informed that this decision
also arises from the fact that repeated reports have been made to
the Pood Division of the Ministry of Health on this subject by your
Medical Officer urging that some policy should be formulated by the
Ministries concerned in regard to the action to be taken under the
Imported Pood Regulations and standards laid down for the acceptance
or rejection of these foodstuffs which could be applied with some
degree of uniformity in the ports and by the local authorities
responsible for the administration of the Imported Pood Regulations.
At the present moment there is no policy and but little uniformity
of action. A consignment of meat may be distributed on arrival,
even in the Port of London, among two or more Authorities, having
powers under the Imported food Regulations and it is by no means
certain that the decision to accept or condemn any portion of the
consignment will be the same,
Since writing this report two consignments of meat have
arrived in the Port -
(a) 1,585 bags Boneless Mutton have arrived from the River Plate.
Ten bags were examined and abscesses were found in three
pieces of the meat. This consignment is at present under
stop by your Medical Officer who is awaiting an approach from
the Ministry of Pood as to its disposal.
(b) The s.s."TWEED" arrived on the 9th September with the
following consignment of "caseous" carcases of mutton:-
69,526 carcases lamb.
84 yearlings.
86,418 carcases mutton.
2,772 bags lamb cuts.
1,068 bags mutton cuts.
Owing to the lack of space in the dock stores this meat
has been distributed to various stores in the metropolis under
"detention" pending a decision as to its disposal.
This consignment is not of boned mutton but of carcases
of lamb and mutton and a preliminary examination of 350 Carcases
of Patagonian Mutton and Lambs and River Plate Lambs reveals the
following conditions:-
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