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for new and up-to-date abattoir facilities has been accepted. The size, complexity and cost of this new project are all factors contributing to the slowness with which plans have progressed. But I can assure Members that this matter will be pressed forward as vigorously as possible.
In the meantime we must continue as best we can, and I would like at the outset to pay a tribute to the excellent work being done at the slaughterhouses by Urban Services Department staff in difficult circumstances. You have heard from our friends Drs. Raymond Lee and Alison Bell a rather lurid description of conditions at Ma Tau Kok Slaughterhouse; so let me therefore give Members an immediate assurance that conditions are no worse today than they have been in the past two or three years. That this unsatisfactory state of affairs has persisted for so long is no reason for complacency, or for arguing that all is as good as it can be, and I have no objection to the Slaughterhouses Select Committee considering what temporary improvements it is worth while recommending to Government. But I must repeat that the unpleasant conditions at Ma Tau Kok are well-known, and that there is no question of some gruesome skeleton having been discovered in a Government cupboard. The fact remains that, until a new abattoir is built, no really fundamental improvements can be achieved with the present buildings.
Turning now for a moment to details, I think Members should be reminded that there are three principal factors in the operation of any slaughterhouse: firstly, detection and condemnation of all diseased animals, meat and offal; secondly, humane slaughter, and thirdly hygienic handling of carcases. Now, taking the first of these, one can certainly claim that although the unsavoury conditions at the slaughterhouses have not improved, the standard of meat inspection has. We have a larger staff of qualified meat and food inspectors than three or four years ago; despite the handicaps resulting from inadequate space, inspection is thorough and it is most unlikely for signs of the important diseases swine fever, tuberculosis, septicaemia, worm infections, to go undetected. Secondly, I can also say that all animals are humanely slaughtered. Pigs are electrically stunned, and stuck and bled while still unconscious. Cattle are tethered and shot with a loose bullet which kills instantaneously on entering the brain.
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Once stunned and shot the animals are bled. Only about 10% of this blood finds a commercial market, and so about two tons of blood run to waste at Ma Tau Kok every day. I have no reason to suppose that my doctor friends are squeamish, but it is inevitable that these rather gory conditions should strike the visitor as most unpleasant. They are not, however, of public health significance. Under the new abattoir proposals, this blood will not be allowed to run to waste. It will be collected, dried, and sold as fertilizer.
I turn now to the final factor-hygiene, or, in terms of slaughterhouse operation, preventing the carcases, once they have been opened up, from becoming contaminated. So long as the skin is unbroken there is little risk of contamination, but opening and dressing the carcases should be performed on the hook, as it will be in a new abattoir. I must here mention that ever since these slaughterhouses were built our Chinese butchers, who are extremely quick and skilful, have dressed their pig carcases on the ground. Unless and until all pigs are dressed on the hook, some risk of contamination must be accepted, and it will be for the Select Committee to consider whether at Ma Tau Kok it will be possible, without unduly heavy expenditure, to devise methods of keeping the flesh and organs clear of contamination. The largest number of pigs ever slaughtered at Ma Tau Kok in one day was 2,868 on 10th February, 1956, which was, of course, round about Chinese New Year. Average figures, as Dr. Lee has said, are about 1,000; but even now, when there is a heavy glut, it is impossible within the time available to hang all pig carcases for inspection, and many are laid out on the floor of the yard for inspection before being delivered. Quite apart from the difficulties which this makes for the inspector, it adds to the risk of contamination. Again it will be for the Select Committee to see whether this state of affairs can be eliminated or improved.
Now, Dr. Lee mentioned the question of water, which of course has considerable bearing on hygienic conditions. I have found that praiseworthy but unnecessary economy in the use of water has been practised at Ma Tau Kok, and I understand that considerable improvements can be effected by more liberal use of water and more water points. I have the assurance of the Director of Public Works that there will be no difficulty about this.
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for new and up-to-date abattoir facilities has been accepted. The size, complexity and cost of this new project are all factors con- tributing to the slowness with which plans have progressed. But I can assure Members that this matter will be pressed forward as vigorously as possible.
In the meantime we must continue as best we can, and I would like at the outset to pay a tribute to the excellent work being done at the slaughterhouses by Urban Services Department staff in difficult circumstances. You have heard from our friends Drs. Raymond Lee and Alison Bell a rather lurid description of conditions at Ma Tau Kok Slaughterhouse; so let me therefore give Members an immediate assurance that conditions are no worse today than they have been in the past two or three years. That this unsatisfactory state of affairs has persisted for so long is no reason for complacency, or for arguing that all is as good as it can be, and I have no objection to the Slaughterhouses Select Committee considering what temporary improvements it is worth while recommending to Government. But I must repeat that the unpleasant conditions at Ma Tau Kok are well-known, and that there is no question of some gruesome skeleton having been dis- covered in a Government cupboard. The fact remains that, until a new abattoir is built, no really fundamental improvements can be achieved with the present buildings.
Turning now for a moment to details, I think Members should be reminded that there are three principal factors in the operation of any slaughterhouse: firstly, detection and condemna- tion of all diseased animals, meat and offal; secondly, humane slaughter, and thirdly hygienic handling of carcases. Now, taking the first of these, one can certainly claim that although the unsavoury conditions at the slaughterhouses have not im- proved, the standard of meat inspection has. We have a larger staff of qualified meat and food inspectors than three or four years ago; despite the handicaps resulting from inadequate space, inspection is thorough and it is most unlikely for signs of the important diseases swine fever, tuberculosis, septicaemia, worm infections, to go undetected. Secondly, I can also say that all animals are humanely slaughtered. Pigs are electrically stunned, and stuck and bled while still unconscious. Cattle are tethered and shot with a loose bullet which kills instantaneously on entering the brain.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
109
Once stunned and shot the animals are bled. Only about 10% of this blood finds a commercial market, and so about two tons of blood run to waste at Ma Tau Kok every day. I have no reason to suppose that my doctor friends are squeamish, but it is inevitable that these rather gory conditions should strike the visitor as most unpleasant. They are not, however, of public health significance. Under the new abattoir proposals, this blood will not be allowed to run to waste. It will be collected, dried, and sold as fertilizer.
I turn now to the final factor-hygiene, or, in terms of slaughterhouse operation, preventing the carcases, once they have been opened up, from becoming contaminated. So long as the skin is unbroken there is little risk of contamination, but opening and dressing the carcases should be performed on the hook, as it will be in a new abattoir. I must here mention that ever since these slaughterhouses were built our Chinese butchers, who are extremely quick and skilful, have dressed their pig carcases on the ground. Unless and until all pigs are dressed on the hook, some risk of contamination must be accepted, and it will be for the Select Committee to consider whether at Ma Tau Kok it will be possible, without unduly heavy expenditure, to devise methods of keeping the flesh and organs clear of contamination. The largest number of pigs ever slaughtered at Ma Tau Kok in one day was 2,868 on 10th February, 1956, which was, of course, round about Chinese New Year. Average figures, as Dr. Lee has said, are about 1,000; but even now, when there is a heavy glut, it is impossible within the time available to hang all pig carcases for inspection, and many are laid out on the floor of the yard for inspection before being delivered. Quite apart from the difficulties which this makes for the inspector, it adds to the risk of con- tamination. Again it will be for the Select Committee to see whether this state of affairs can be eliminated or improved.
Now, Dr. Lee mentioned the question of water, which of course has considerable bearing on hygienic conditions. I have found that praiseworthy but unnecessary economy in the use of water has been practised at Ma Tau Kok, and I understand that considerable improvements can be effected by more liberal use of water and more water points. I have the assurance of the Director of Public Works that there will be no difficulty about this.
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