[Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Reading County Borough.

  • Reading (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Reading County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    88/142 (page 84)
    Meat Inspection 88,410 animals were slaughtered and inspected at the Reading slaughterhouses during the year, compared with 85,435 in 1963. The inspection units involved were also slightly higher, being 708,278 compared with 694,940 last year. The through-put in Reading appears to have been far more consistent over the years than for most other places in the country where killings have generally been down of recent years. This is probably due to the extent of the export work here. So far as the figures relating to the various types of animals are concerned, the number of cattle is down, the number of calves is less this year than last—12,238 compared with 19,655. Sheep and lambs are up, which is also the case in respect of pigs. We continue to get a number of cattle direct from Ireland for slaughter, the figure for 1964 being 1,510 compared with 1,915 last year. The policy of allowing animals from Ireland into this country for slaughter, is under constant review by the appro¬ priate authorities, although it will be noted in the section on Tuberculosis that the proportion of animals found to be affected with Tuberculosis from this source, is much less than last year and considerably less than in 1962. Details of inspection, together with condemnations, are referred to later in the report, and the amount of meat slaughtered and inspected is again illustrated in graph form on page 88. 1964 was our first full year in the working of the new Meat Inspection Regulations which made meat inspection a statutory duty on local authorities and laid down an obligatory meat inspection system. To meet the staff difficulties experienced in 1963, the Health Committee decided to appoint two Trainee Meat Inspectors. Due to the dates of their appointment it was not possible for them to attend Courses already approved by the Royal Society of Health at Colleges in London. However, in view of the fact that we have had for some years in Reading an internal departmental course for the training of Public Health Inspectors for the Royal Society of Health Diploma for the inspection of Meat and Other Foods, the examining body agreed that the twro Trainee Meat Inspectors could be trained in a similar way. Both Trainees were success¬ ful in passing the examination. Although it has since been necessary to replace one of these men who left to take up another appointment, this New-Class Meat Inspector has been of considerable value to the meat inspection service. It has reduced the demand on the time of District Public Health Inspectors for meat inspection, and has eased the amount of late working on meat inspection worked by each member of the staff. For many years now we have provided meat inspection facilities and instruction to people training in meat inspection, both from the public health and veterinary fields. Whilst the layouts at the slaughterhouses and varying factors of throughput are not ideal, a reasonable working arrangement has been achieved on meat inspection, although difficulties arise from time to time due to delays in transportation, slaughter¬ house staff difficulties, trade demands and other factors. So far as meat inspection charges are concerned, the regulations laid down a maximum of 2s. 6d. a beast, 9d. for each calf or pig and 6d. in the case of each sheep, lamb or goat, together with a provision that it is open to local authorities to negotiate special contracts on a basis which will not exact the maximum charges where regular or large-scale slaughtering takes place. Contracts were negotiated on this basis at both the Abattoirs and Venners. As already mentioned, the slaughtering establish¬ ment in Newtown ceased operations last year. The means of streamlining slaughtering and inspection have been constantly kept in mind and discussed with the firms at the Abattoirs and the Bacon Factory, and there has been a real endeavour to reduce late working. Some economies have been made, but there is still room for improvement. A part answer to this question of late slaughtering is the improvement and extension of cooling and refrigeration