Volume 2

The meat industry and meat inspection : a comprehensive account of the principal animals and fish, including cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and game, supplied to the British meat market, together with a description of the various industrial processes connected therewith and the scientific inspection of meat / by Gerald R. Leighton and Loudon M. Douglas.

  • Leighton, Gerald Rowley, 1868-
Date:
[1910]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The meat industry and meat inspection : a comprehensive account of the principal animals and fish, including cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and game, supplied to the British meat market, together with a description of the various industrial processes connected therewith and the scientific inspection of meat / by Gerald R. Leighton and Loudon M. Douglas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    In Holland, mutton is despised as a dish, whereas in France the presale mutton is esteemed, because of its being grown on the pastures near the salt sea. Goat's flesh is rarely eaten with us, but it is common enough in some countries. To the Arab, the flesh of the kid is said to be tender and delicate, especially when boiled in milk.* Queen Elizabeth and the well-to-do of her time breakfasted on meat, ale and bread ; but that hardy food has been displaced by something of a totally different character, and the fact that we have become less of a fighting nation than formerly may have something to say to this. The strong and intellectual nations of the earth are meat-eaters, and wherever animal food is displaced by vegetable diet there you will find intellectual and physical decay. Man is essentially omnivorous, and to gratify his appetite lays under contribution the air, the earth and the sea, and, at least amongst the progressive nations of the earth, manages to adjust the balance of food in such a way as to satisfy the demands of nature and make good the daily waste which takes place. It is indeed stated by Gautier that the food balance-sheet of an average population pretty nearly squares and agrees with the theoretical teaching of the laboratory.f Thus, when the Esquimaux drinks his train oil, the Tartar his koumiss pre- pared from mare's milk, and the Hindoo or Japanese takes his rice and water, he unconsciously obeys a law of nature which requires that the food consumed must be in direct relationship to the energy expended. Britain's Dependence on Imports. The food of the British nation is a tremendous problem, and one may only appreciate its significance by trying to conceive for a moment what would be the result if the external sources of supply were suddenly stopped. We live largely on imported food-stuffs, and more especially is this so with regard to meat. It has been computed J that the consumption of meat of all kinds in the United Kingdom amounts to 121.77 lb. per head of the population, and of this figure 67.52 lb. are home grown and 54.25 lb. are imported. A later computation gives the following figures : Table § showing the Consumption of Meat per Head of the Population in the United Kingdom Beef. Mutton. Pig-meat. All meat. Average. e 0 reign. ■3 0 a 0 •eign. i 0 i V rt a 0 eign. K 0 H X fS 0 H W u 0 0 H K M 0 H lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. 1850-1 to 1894-5 • 39 17 56 19 6 25 16 IS 31 74 38 112 1895-6 ,, 1899-1900 35 20 SS 16 11 27 17 21 38 68 52 120 1900-I „ 1904-5 . 36 22 58 16 11 27 IS 21 36 67 54 121 1905-6 „ 1907-8 . 36 24 60 IS 11 26 13 20 33 64 55 119 (The figures are based upon the Registrar-General's returns of population.) * Van I.ennep. f Gautier, Diet and Dietetics. X Raw, Production and Consumption of Meat and Milk, 1904. § The Meat Supply of the United Kingdom. by R. H. Hooker, M.A., Journal of the Royal Stalislical Society, 1909.