[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Port and City of London].

  • London (England). Port & City Council.
Date:
1977
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Port and City of London]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    41/53 (page 33)
    SMITHFIELD MARKET The main wholesalers of meat and poultry whose supplies come from the sources of production are situated within the market buildings. Some wholesalers, the businesses of catering butchers and poultry, game and other suppliers are situated in the areas around Smithfield and also in and around Leadenhall Market and Billingsgate Market. There is always a changing situation as far as businesses and tenancies are concerned and in Smithfield Market during the last year there have been more than the usual number of changes. At the end of 1976 there were the following food businesses: — In Smithfield: 77 handling meat 25 handling poultry 3 handling meat and poultry 9 handling provisions/bacon/tinned goods 3 catering butchers 3 retail meat/poultry/frozen foods 1 frozen foods Around Smithfield: 11 catering butchers 2 meat wholesalers 1 offal wholesaler 3 poultry wholesalers 1 provision wholesaler In Leadenhall, Billingsgate and elsewhere in the City: 5 butchers 5 poultry traders (Supermarket type stores are not included). The first duty of the inspectors is to see that all meat and poultry being distributed from the whole salers is fit for food. Many changes have occurred in methods of meat production, packaging, transport and handling in recent years but from a meat inspection point of view an important development has been in the eradication or control of many of the specific diseases found in food animals which were a danger to public health and the raison d'etre for meat inspection in the City more than a century ago. All carcases arriving in Smithfield have been subjected to inspection at the time of slaughter but the conditions of disease mostly seen during 1976 were those occurring in present-day conditions of intensive rearing; in par ticular, abscesses in pigs which were deep seated and not seen on normal slaughterhouse inspection but dis closed when cutting up was done. Supplies are bulk broken for sale to visiting buyers and a valuable function of the 'market' is the cutting up of carcases providing cuts suitable to the requirements of buyers. Carcases are utilised to the best advantage in this way. At the same time, any abnormality is noted and the meat detained by the butcher for inspection. This cooperation is invaluable. Food and Drugs Act, 1955 sections 8/9 provide the legal sanction against depositing for sale, selling and being in possession of, for sale, unsound food. Food found to be unfit was commonly surrendered in accordance with normal practice and certifi cates provided for trade accounting purposes. One prosecution concerning eviscerated poultry carcases in which lesions of disease were evident, and which were consigned to Smithfield, was pending at the end of the year. The Meat Inspection Regulations, 1963 made meat inspection in the slaughter-houses necessary, with marked effect on the work of the Smithfield Inspectorate. They also require the inspected carcases to bear a stamp of the local authority. In accordance with the practice now established, notifications of condemna tions for disease were sent to local authorities whose legible stamp was on the carcase. The regulations in Scotland do not require stamping to be done, consequently unstamped carcases are in distribution in England. Enquiries are received from other authorities about such meat. It does not seem to be generally realised that there is no offence in having unstamped meat in a butchers shop. The offence is in removing it from the slaughterhouse. 33