DUNEDIN CITYABATTOIRS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 7

DUNEDIN CITYABATTOIRS.

A visit to the Dunedhi City Abattoirs musb convtuco the most sceptical that they *re filling a required- want. It is giitsfyicg to learn that the majority of the city batchers patronise them, although a few continue to hold aloof. But the public will appreciate the boon of having properly inspected meat offered to them, which means healthy and wholesome j meat, and that could not always be said of all | the meat offered for sale ia the past. Already I the animals slaughtered reaoh a weekly total of 1800, including sheep, cattle, and pigs. Connected with the abattoirs there are 26 registered slaughtermen, and these, along with the obher hands employed about tha place, make a total of 30 persons, which must be considered yery ,good for a start. Although slaughtering wa« only commenced on the 7th insfc., yet good work h&s been done, and a notable feature so far has been the remarkably healthy character of the stock killed at the abattoirs. A very small percentage indeed has been rejected and destroyed as unfit to enter into human consurap&'cn. This week three rather bad spacimecis of cattle were rejected, and one of thet^ — a ccw — Mr Snowball says, was badly iufeeted with general tuherculosis. The danger to public health from such rae&t goingr into consumption is very great. The abattoirs will have & good effect all round, as buyers will not purchase doubtful anirn«,ls and run tho risk of having th« oarcasea condemned, and aeltlera wiil also be careful not to forward suspicious specimens to the naiey&rds. Bat it is the consumer who will benefit most, as none but good Bound meat tviil receive the inspector's stamp. Mr Sitowbs,;! states that the number of animals aff ectod more or less with hydatid cysts is really surprising ; but as these are harmless to human beings I.fao quality of the meat is not affected. Oare, however, is taken to reject any sheep's plucks showing hydatids, as these if eaten by dogs only serva to propagate the disease. The most carefu inspuction is made for tuberculosis, and all doubtful cases are further tested by a very powerful microscope. A companion iustru* ment .is a microtome for cutting sections for microscopic examinations. Mr $aowball has a complete laboratory for t,he special work he will have to perform, Including a couple of Hearson'a bacteriological incubators for culti- I vating »i.ectcf!ens of back ra to deterraiae their * character — whether tobacoultsis or otheirwias. ( The clean manner in wtifoh okught«ring ifc ; carried out in aa abattoir Etted up on modern ', principles is in itself a marked advance on tho I rough-and-ready old way of killing meat. Both j hot and cold water are laid on, and Immediately a beast is slaughtered all trace of blood, &0., is washed away. The drainage passes through i system of settling tanks, and ft is Wily boiled ' to separata all solid matter P.e%|» being sent j cton n into the £&kor»l gk^nu Tte «ktt«;hter'- '

iag pens for pigs have only boen completed, and thesa hava every convenience required for the purpose to whioh thsy are devoted. Ia tha meantime' all the off si from the abattoirs has to be buried, which seem3' like a great waste of valuable manure ; but that 13 a matter which will in time right itself, tor someone is certain to utilise this waste product. All tbe blood is saved and sold to Messrs Kempbhorna, Prosser, and Co. Taken\s a whole, the City Abattoirs mustba considered a valuable iußtifcufcion, and the publio at least can purchase the meat passed through the abattoirs with every confidence that ifc has beeu cleanly slaughtered «nd carefully inspected.