London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1965
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Port of London]
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| Country | Sheep & Lambs | Beef B/IN | Beef Cuts & B/L Beef | Mutton Cuts B/L Mutton | Beef Livers | Other Offals | Pork | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentine | 1,447 carcases | 9 qtrs. | 35 ctns./bags | 858 ctns./bags | 155 ctns./bags | 2,504 | ||
| Australia | 382 carcases | 1,387 ctns. | 607 ctns. | 660 ctns. | 579 ctns. | 3,615 | ||
| Brazil | 95 ctns./bags | 95 | ||||||
| Canada | 5 ctns. | 5 | ||||||
| New Zealand | 20,478 carcases | 53 ctns. | 248 ctns | 400 ctns | 355 ctns./bags | 6 Sides | 21,540 | |
| Uruguay | 12 bags | 12 | ||||||
| U.S.A. | 1,146 ctns. | 4,383 ctns | 5,529 | |||||
| TOTALS | 22,307 | 9 | 1,475 | 855 | 3,171 | 5,477 | 6 | 33,300 |
The main activity has involved:—
Physical Examination for Diseases 9,646 packages
Bacteriological Sampling 4,936 packages
Reconditioning from Contamination, etc. 33,300 packages
The supervision and re-export of 6,559 packages of Prohibited meats, which included 5,778
without acceptable Official Certificates.
In addition to this, the control and disposal of 910,557 packages of Pet Food meat has been
supervised.
It will be noticed that the amount of meats intended for the pets food trade constitutes a major
problem for supervision. Whatever procedure is adopted to comply with The Meat (Staining &
Sterilization) Regulations involves much detailed administrative work to cover the network of its
movements from the ship to the ultimate destination. Whether the provisions in the impending
revision of the Imported Food Regulations will take account of animals from which this pets food
meat is derived remains to be seen and may affect the present procedure of control. There is a
growing opinion that all meat intended for pets food should be sterilized to accord with the Meat
(Staining & Sterilization) Regulations. Should this procedure be adopted then much of the administrative
and sampling control would be eliminated.
Mechanised Installation
During the year, work has commenced on the construction of the first mechanised meat discharging
berth at 'B' berth in the Royal Victoria Dock. It is an enterprising project and aims to
discharge a ship in considerably less time, the packages of meat being conveyed from the ship's
hold to the land transport loading bays on a travelling belt.
The organisation and technical control are being carefully planned and the Port Health
Authority is represented at the consultations with the Port of London Authority and the Industry.
Facilities for the inspection of the cargo in situ and of the rapidly moving packages on the conveyor
are to be considered.
It is anticipated that the scheme will be put into operation in the Autumn of 1966.
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