The San Francisco call., 1906-06-27
SCANDAL OVER
BRITISH BEEF
Revolving Conditions in
the Trade in Great .
Britain.
Inspection Is Inefficient
and Foul Meat
Is Sold.
SPECIAL prsPAreu TO THE CALL.

{
agitation, and there is a concentrated
effort on their part to close American
meat and canned goods from the Brit
ish market 1t is. however. a case OF
people in glass houses throwing stones,
for according to an official statement
made to the writer by DIR. F. Cooper,
late chairman of the London County
Council and one of the foremost au-
thorities on foods in England, English
butchers and packers are decidedly not
in a position TO grid at the Americans.
The furious outcry in England
against American canned goods of ev-
! cry description, and the Importation OF
American meat In particular, is. in my
/ opinion, deliberate agitation" said
DIR. Cooper yesterday. Dealers seem
to have combined in denouncing Ameri-
can goods without waiting for verif-
cation from the United States. Every
wild statement is circulated as absolute
truth, even to the extent that Ameri-
| can packing-houses are guilty of maxi
| Ing cannibals of the public. While 1
do not defend American packers who
have been guilty of the things which
/ President Roosevelt says they have
done. at the same time I wish to warn
American houses of repute that the
i scare in England is trade agitation.
English butchers and packers have
nothing to be proud of in their own
! methods, which, in my opinion. as an
official of many years experience with
| this particular subject. are about as
| bad as can be.
Il am sure the statement will come
as a matter of surprise when | aver
that in England there Is practically no
| inspection of meat at all. For many
years we have been trying to get bill
introduced into Parliament compelling
meat inspectors to be men of special
adj Oh
studying pathology and bacteriology.
but all these efforts have been futile.
Today there does not exist anywhere in
En- gland what L consider a properly
educated inspector of foodstuffs. There
are few men. 1t is true. who go about
examining butter. milk and sometimes
meat, but they have no special educa-
! tion for their tasks
ITO come down to details, I might
mention that l know OF my own per-
sonal knowledge hundreds OF cases OF
jugglery with meat in an unsanitary
! condition. Take Smithield Market
London's principal meat supply center.
Every one who knows anything about
the subject at all will confirm my
statement that inspection Of meat at
this place is a mere farce. For years
/ there has existed portion of the mar
ket known as Rotten Row where
meat in the flthiest condition-special-
ly disguised by chemical treatment
/ is sold. This state of affairs prevails
owing to the fact that the so-caIled In
| spector for the city of London proper
has no Jurisdiction over that particular
section of the market, which lies just
outside his boundary. This meat is as
bad and unfit for food as it is possible
for meat to be-nothing disposed of in
America by the beef trust could be
/ worse.
II am sorry TO have to admit II, but
there is no one more dishonest than
! the British tradesman. There Is in
London a tremendous amount of brib-
cry and corruption in the matter of
food supply; and there seems to be
! prevailing system that one tradesman
must let another do as he pleases on
| the distinct understanding that they
! will give and take-you let me alone.
and I shall do the same with you is
! their policy.
IL know of cases where cattle have
died of disease in the country, and
yet been shipped UP to London and
sold as fresh killed Even IL the
London alleged inspectors found
piece of meat that they supposed dis
eased they have not the requisite edu-
cation to tell whether Ii is bad or
not. They are inspectors by their
noses and that's all they have got to
go by, and their noses will stand
/
There are hundreds of tons of rotten
meat sold in London every year. = This
refers to the canned goods as well as
| the other kind. The condition OF pri-
vate slaughter houses is never looked
into, and butchers can do pretty much
as they like. Diseased cattle are
killed and sold by the hundreds; rotten
meat chemically treated is timed by
the ton and sold perfect, and the
utmost filthiness prevails in handling
this meat. 1 have seen meat lying in
| barrows placed over four-smelling
drains. and I know many cases where
meat is handled as IL 1t were intended
for the dump heap instead of for hu-
man consumption.
"At Deptford Market. one ignorant
inspector is assigned TO report on more
than a thousand bullocks day. What
| is the result? Can he inspect them
all? 1 should think not. The conse-
auence is that diseased cattle reach
London as matter OF course.
Another source Of diseased meat are
the rabbits which are sent 70 London
from Ostend by the ton 1 have seen
crates of rabbits reelxing with pto-
maine poison sold for rs cents per
crate, which is practically giving them
away because they were too foul to
be eaten by any one but the poorest of
the poor. 1 know some dealers who
sell this foul meat regularly, treating
| II with permanganate OF potash TO dis
guise the condition OF the meat
Hundreds of tons of horse flesh are
sold in London, being canned under the
disguise of tongue, beef and other
meats. I have not the slightest doubt
that every year tons on tons of rotten.
diseased, filthy. unsanitary meat are
sold TO the British public by home
packers; all of this stuff being attrac-
lively branded as absolutely fresh
You can look at these cans and see the
tops puffed out from the gases of de-
composition.
Altogether, / think It Is about time
that this eutcry in England against
American goods should be shown to
come largely from interested home
dealers who are dishonest enough to
take quick advantage of the psyche
logical moment to run down and smash
the American legitimate trade. While
American packers may be certainly
guilty enough, they are not a whit
worse than the English. dealers VINO
are criticising them so furiously."
To bear out Councilman Cooper's
statements. give here some statistics
of rotten meat and other goods which
Government oficials-In spite Of all