A practical guide to meat inspection / by Thomas Walley.

  • Walley, Thomas, 1842-1894.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical guide to meat inspection / by Thomas Walley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    TRAFFIC IN DISEASED MEAT. S whose door this dereliction of duty is to be placed I will not stop to consider.* It is evident that it is due largely to indifference and to apathy on the part of those who are supposed to be the guardians of the public health. That the inspection of abattoirs, markets, and shops, carried on even in an imperfect manner, is of great public utility, must be apparent to those who are placed in a position in which opportunities are afforded for forming a correct and reliable opinion. Thousands of pounds of flesh meat are by this means annually withdrawn from our markets and shops, and consigned to that fate which is most meet—destruction ; and, in addition to this, a wholesome, though not absolutely efficient, check is placed upon the nefarious traffic of the carrion or cagmag butcher. If such characters confined their operations merely to the sale of an inferior quality of meat—i.e., meat deficient in fat or wanting in flesh—but little harm would accrue; neither could any serious objection be urged against their trade if they were honest enough to label every piece of meat exposed by them for sale with a description of its character and the source from whence it was derived, or, as of second or third class quality. In that case the purchaser could blame nobody but himself; and if he chose to buy meat labelled diseased, simply because he obtained it at a low price, the fault would rest with him alone, and the sanitary authorities could no more be held responsible for his act than could the police authorities be held responsible if he elected to commit suicide. The members of that class of the community most largely * As showing the difference in the way meat inspection is managed at Berlin, it may be noted that the staff engaged in the duty at the Central Abattoir comprises over 250 persons, including the director, 19 veterinary surgeons, and 6 assistant veterinary surgeons ; while about 15 veterinary surgeons are engaged in the inspection of carcases slaughtered elsewhere and brought into the city ^Journal of Comp. Path., June 1890).