Dr. G.S. Buchanan's report to the Local Government Board on an outbreak of illness at Mansfield caused by eating potted meat / [G.S. Buchanan].

  • George Seaton Buchanan
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. G.S. Buchanan's report to the Local Government Board on an outbreak of illness at Mansfield caused by eating potted meat / [G.S. Buchanan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/12 (page 4)
    in Mansfield on February 15th or later. Purchasers of potted meat on February 15th, at the retail shops from which the February 11th preparation had been removed and the fresh supply substituted, remained equally free from illness. A seeming exception occurred, however, at the Littleworth Co-operative Stores, in Mansfield, where potted meat bought on February 15th (after the new supply had, for the first time, been delivered on that day) proved just as virulent as before. But Mr. X.’s traveller told me that the fresh supply distributed by him on February 15th had been taken indiscriminately from tins on Mr. X.’s premises, the traveller himself having no means of knowing whether the contents of any particular tin had been made on February 11th or on February 14th. I ascertained subsequently that certain tins of February 11th potted meat were still on Mr. X.’s premises on February 15th, and Mr. X. could not account for their disposal unless they had been carried out by the traveller on that day. Hence it seemed likely that at the Littleworth Stores it was really potted meat of February 11th which was delivered on February 15th as a fresh supply, and that the seeming exception was, in fact, no exception at all. None of the retail shopkeepers nor any of the customers had noticed anything that they regarded as objectionable about the appearance of the potted meat. Most, however, had had their attention attracted by its red colour, as Mr. X.’s potted meat, they said, was not usually red. As to taste, some persons had considered it exceptionally nice, others thought it much as usual, while others, again, had noticed it to be “ tasteless ” or “ mawkish” or to “ taste of copper.” It had not smelt objectionably. Samples of the meat were hard to obtain. Those procured and sent to Dr. Klein were :— 1. A specimen (which had been bought on February ] 3th), obtained by Dr. Wills, on February 20th, from a house in Mansfield in which persons had been attacked. 2. Specimens obtained from the Littleworth Co-operative Stores on February 24th: (A.) A portion of February 11th potted meat, part of a supply consumed by, and causing illness in, the family of the manager of the stores. (B.) A portion of the potted meat supplied to the same stores on February 15th, to which I have above referred. This specimen was less red than specimen (A.). These Littleworth samples were the only specimens that could be heard of at the time of my visit. Both had been thrown, tin? day before, into a dry ash heap. Portion A. was found completely wrapped up in thick paper, but portion B. was cut out of the centre of a mass of potted meat which was lying among some dry cinders. Manufacture of the Implicated Potted Meat. Mr. X.’s statement with regard to the manufacture of the material was to this effect:—Potted meat is usually made by him at the beginning of the week from the pieces of beef in his shop which have not been sold daring the previous week. Usually he adds to the beef a small quantity of pork. Two bullocks were killed at his slaughter-house on February 4th. Both were fat beasts and in good condition. He sold beef from these cdfrcases up to Monday, the 10th. On the lltli he took some of this beef that was unsold—^pieces of brisket and neck hanging up in his shop, and other pieces set aside on the dresser—and gave them to his assistant, Y., to make into potted meat. Mr. X. described these portions of beef as having presented in every way a good appearance. At the same, time he gave Y. the hocks of two pigs to be added to the beef. These two pigs belonged to a litter of four, all slaughtered on his premises the previous day (February 10th). Y., according to custom, was to boil the beef and pork, free the cooked product from bone, mince it, add pepper and salt, and put it, with a little gravy, into certain shallow, large and small, tins usually employed for the purpose. Mr. X. had not witnessed the making of this particular compound, but told me that Y. has made potted meat under his supervision for several years, always making it in this manner. All the meat used in the preparation, Mr. X. asserted, came from his shop as above described. No *: A