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75
Alleged use of Unsound Meat in the Manufacture of Sausages.
—It has been stated that unsound meat may be disposed of in the
making of sausages, and particular notice has been taken by the
Council's Food Inspectors of the nature and quality of the meat
used for this purpose.
Ordinary sausages, that is unsmoked or uncooked sausages as
sold by butchers and provision dealers, consist of minced pork,
mutton or beef, with bread or cereals and condiments. In some
cases preservative is added. The addition of 450 parts of Sulphur
Di-Oxide per million parts is permitted by the Public Health
(Preservatives, etc., in Food) Regulations, 1927, if its presence is
declared upon a label.
The sausages sold by the provision dealers and smaller butchers
and stallholders are usually made by large firms who specialise in
the manufacture of sausages. There is only one wholesale maker
in this Borough.
There appears to have been an increase in the sale of the
proprietary brands of sausages as compared with the shop-made
sausages, probably because butchers find it difficult to gauge the
amount of preservative which may be used.
Sausages are made and sold at a profit from 4d. a pound
upwards. The meat usually used, though sound, is that which is
not suitable for cutting up for joints, such as (a) bull beef which
is too lean, large and coarse for ordinary purposes; (b) cow beef
which has very little fat—this is often boned out at the market
and sold for sausage making; (c) frozen or cold meat flanks, etc.,
for which there is not a ready sale in joint form; (d) odd joints,
meat trimmings, etc., for which there is no sale in the shop; (e)
"sticking," or neck of beef, which is usually dark and sticky from
the bleeding of the animal, but, if fresh, is quite wholesome when
used with other meat meal, etc., and gives colour to the sausages;
and (/) boar and sow meat for which there is no demand as shop
joints.
To the meat is added stale bread, which is soaked and pressed,
or ground rice, ground rusks (bread toasted and ground), or cereal
mixtures specially prepared for sausage makers.
Condiments, such as mixtures of pepper and seasoning, are
either bought ready mixed from wholesalers, or are made up by
the sausage maker to suit his own trade.
There is little danger now of tainted meat being used for
sausage making, for the use of refrigerators by nearly all the
butchers in the Borough lessens the risk of meat becoming unsound.