Report on the work of inspectors of foods for the year 1912-13 / being a report by A.W.J. MacFadden.

  • MacFadden, Arthur William James, 1869-
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on the work of inspectors of foods for the year 1912-13 / being a report by A.W.J. MacFadden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    statements in such advertisements are obviously intended to convey the impression to food manufacturers that the preservative in question is absolutely innocuous. . , , It is satisfactory to note that proceedings have alieadj been instituted in several cases in respect of the use of preservatives containing fluoride, and there should be no difficulty, having regaic to the wide powers given to local authorities under the Milk and Cream Regulations, 1912, in suppressing the use of such substances as far as milk and cream are concerned. II. Local Arrangements for Food Inspection. During the latter part of the year under review Dr. Macewen has been conducting an investigation in various parts of the country into the methods of meat inspection adopted, and during the course of his inquiry has visited numerous boroughs and urban and rural districts. His inquiries have emphasised the unsatisfactory position referred to in last year’s report in regard to arrangements for the inspection of meat in certain districts, notably in rural districts. The experiences of inspectors of foods and examination of the annual reports of medical officers of health indicate that the attention given to the work of food inspection varies enormously in different districts. It is sometimes stated as a reason for the small quantity of meat found to be diseased in a particular district that the quality of meat habitually sold in the district is very high. It is open to doubt, however, whether this reason adequately explains the almost negligible amounts of diseased meat found in such districts. It is more often due in part to lack of sufficient knowledge of the technical questions involved in meat inspection, on the part of some local inspectors, who for this reason refrain from displaying any avoidable activity in this part of their duties. In many cases also the inspector is prevented by other duties from devoting sufficient time and attention to meat inspection. Difficulties of this kind are greatly aggravated in many instances by the existence of a number of slaughterhouses scattered in various parts of the district. It is only by attention to the examination of carcases at the time of slaughter that meat inspection can be satisfactorily performed, and it is obvious that the multiplication of places where slaughtering is carried out adds to the difficulty of maintaining adequate supervision. In certain cases it has been found that activity in the matter of food inspection has apparently been discouraged by the local authority. Reference may be made to one instance of”this kind inquired into by Dr. Macewen. In 1911 an urban district council sent a circular to the local butchers, drawing their attention to the provisions of the Public Health Act, 1875, relating to the seizure of diseased or unsound food, and intimating that in the case of any future seizure of meat by the inspector of nuisances to which his attention had not been called by the butcher the council would institute legal proceedings. The council, further announced that they would regard “ stripping ” as primd facie evidence that the carcase had been affected with tuberculosis to the knowledge of the butcher. Early in the present year the inspector of nuisances reported that he had Beized a carcase which was badly affected with tuber culosis, and had been partially “ stripped.” Part of the carcase had been made into sausages which had been sold, and the inspector asked the sanitary committee’s permission to prosecute the butcher in whose shop the diseased meat had been found, but permission was
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