Supervision of the Nation's Food Supply

Abstract

IN the fifteenth Benjamin WTard Richardson Lecture which was delivered on November 10 before the Royal Sanitary Institute, Dr. Gerald Leighton, late Medical Officer of the Department of Health for Scotland, stated that from the public health point of view three conditions are required for the proper supervision of the nation's food supply. In the first place, there must be a concentration and collection at certain centres of large quantities of the food material, so that there may be adequate inspection. Although the necessity of this condition was recognized more than forty years ago by the United States Department of Agriculture, which established a well-regulated system of slaughter houses, Great Britain has been very slow in adopting the system of public abattoirs, the need of which was so strongly urged by Benjamin Ward Richardson himself. The second condition necessary for effective supervision is the supply of a sufficient number of highly trained inspectors. Great progress has been made in this respect during the last twenty years, training for students as meat inspectors being provided by veterinary colleges, some universities and other educational bodies. Lastly, a uniformity of system and practice is essential. The inspectors should be trained to work on a uniform system and to a uniform standard instead of, as in the old days, each inspector being a law to himself. Dr. Leighton then dwelt on the desirability of securing and adopting the most rapid, skilled and humane methods of slaughtering all kinds of animals for human food, a topic which formed part of the life work of Richardson. In conclusion, he expressed the view that in the progress of the supervision of a nation's food, the introduction of legal standards, as in most European countries, America and various parts of the Empire, for the majority of foods is the most important step for future development.