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43
mutton, in a putrid condition, exposed for sale on the premises of a butcher
in Brick lane. I examined the meat and found it in an advanced stage
of decomposition, and, though not shewing any sign of disease, it was
totally unfit for human food. The butcher was summoned to Worship
street, and fined £5, and 17s. 6d. costs.
This case was somewhat peculiar, as the meat was originally quite sound
and wholesome, and not in any way diseased: it had simply become
putrid from over-keeping; and the question arises, why certain meats
should be regarded as wholesome when undergoing decomposition—such
as venison, &c.—and why certain others, such as this, should be considered
unfit for the food of man while in a similar condition ? There is,
however, a substantial and well-recognised difference between the effects
of the partially decomposed flesh of tame animals, on the one hand, and
of the flesh of wild animals, on the other.
The circumstances under which decomposition takes place, and also its
rapidity, exert important influences over the wholesomeness of animal
food.
If the meat be kept quite dry the putrefactive changes take place slowly,
and it remains wholesome for some time; but if these changes are allowed
to go on rapidly under the influence of heat and moisture, poisonous gases
are given off abundantly, and the meat soon becomes putrid and quite
unfit for food. This latter condition applies, not only to tame meat, but
also to game, which, if allowed to putrefy in this manner, instead of
becoming simply high, is rendered quite as unwholesome as the other.
Five quarters of mutton were discovered in the possession of a butcher
living in Virginia row. The meat was being sold from a barrow in Brick
lane, and Inspector Lapworth was himself accosted and asked to buy. I
examined the meat and found it pale, wet, and flabby. The sheep had
during life been the subject of liverfluke, or "rot." The meat was taken
before the Magistrate and condemned. The butcher was afterwards
summoned to Worship street, and fined £5 and costs.
By order of the Sanitary Committee, bills, containing short notes of the
cases above-mentioned, were printed and distributed about the markets.
The names of the delinquents were not given, but simply their initials.
I believe these bills were of great use in checking the trade in this kind
of stuff.
Several packages, consisting of Ostend rabbits, fish, fruit, and vegetables,
have been condemned as unfit for human food. They were all destroyed;