HAWKING OF MEAT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 51, 22 August 1911, Page 6

HAWKING OF MEAT

ALLEGED INSANITARY METHOD,

At yesterday's meeting of the Hawera Hospital Board a letter was received from the Sanitary Inspector, saying that Jiia attention had been drawn to meat hawking as an insanitary system, says the Star. On investigation he found that nearly three-fourths of the meat sold in this district was hawked, and in the winter months it was possible to take a piece of meat out on the cart every day for a because the butcher must carry a quantity of meat for the last customer to selec-t from. Consequently before some of the meat was sold it must have kad a large anjoumt of handling. Meat being a very absorbent article of food should bo handled as little as possible. Customers often liandle meat on carts, which necessitated risks being run 'by the next purchaser. Then there was the possibility ©f persons suffering from infectious diseases breathing or coughing over meat in hawking carts. He suggested that the best method to adopt, both for customer and butcher, would be for the butcher to collect orders for next day when delivering meat. The meat could then be cut up in the shop, wrapped in clean paper, and delivered to the customer without being handled again. By adopting the order system as an amendment to the Foods and Drugs Act, forbidding meat to be hawked, no one would be put to any inconvenience. The pujblic would get meat more fit for food, and the butcher would have less risk of meat going bad on his hands, ibecause it would keep much better in the shop than being lmwked about the country . It was stated by the chairman (Mr. Nolan) that many of the complaints about hawking of meat were very much exaggerated. In any case the matter was one for the .Health Department, to which a copy of the report had been forwarded. Other members agreed with the chairman and no action was taken.