76
BARMEN.
or other articles of food. The only foreign meat now in the market is imported
alive from Denmark. After being kept in quarantine for 10 days, it is sent to
the municipal slaughter house, where it must be slaughtered within four days.
The consumption of Dutch slaughtered meat had ceased since the application of
the new customs tariff. Barmen butchers complained very much of the high
prices of stock for slaughtering purposes, the wholesale price per pound being
very little short of what it is possible to get the retail buyer to pay. It appeared
that the chief sufferers—besides the butchers themselves, many of whom are
going out of business—are the middle classes, to whom the butcher has to look
for his profit, " the prices charged to the working classes having already reached
the point beyond which the latter would cease altogether to consume meat.” As *
it is they only eat such cuts as the middle-class customer would not buy—
flank and shin of beef and neck and breast of mutton. The consumption of
mutton is, however, very small, and the same is true of meat of every description
other than beef and pig. Thus the total consumption of meat of all kinds in
Barmen (in 1904) was estimated at 111 lbs. per head of population, and this
comprised 51 lbs. of beef and 43 lbs. of pig in various forms (fresh pork, bacon,
sausage, etc.). The remainder consisted of veal, mutton, goat, and horseflesh.
There is reason to believe, however, that the consumption of the workingclasses
would be below this figure. An analysis of 153 returns of family
expenditure on food obtained in Barmen in connection with this inquiry showed
a meat consumption per head of 720 persons of 16^ oz. per week, or at the rate
of 53¿ lb. a year. Of this, 47 per cent, was beef, 30 per cent, sausage, and
21 per cent, bacon and pork.
It was found that sausages of various kinds were largely eaten as a
substitute for fresh meat, but it was not possible to ascertain precisely of what
meats they are composed. The sausages sold by purveyors of horse-flesh—
there are five establishments in Barmen where no other kind of meat is sold—
are of course an exception to this rale. The best quality of horse sausage,
which is euphemistically called Cervelcitwurst, is sold at 5Jd. per pound, the
“ fillet steak ” costs 6Jjd., the lean cuts which go by the name of u roast beef,”
cost 5|d., and the other cuts—as well as minced horse-flesh—are sold at 4Jd.
A dish of cooked horse-flesh, with potatoes, is sold for 3\d. The number of
horses slaughtered for consumption in Barmen during the year 1905 was 666,
in addition to which 15 were brought as dead meat from other localities and
passed as fit for consumption. The corresponding figures for the preceding
year were 566 and 26.
fWWwaMf Pncgg y;azd //¿g IKorLA? CWggg m OcMgr, 1905, and
May, 1906.
Description of Cut.
Shin
Beef :—
Ribs
Silverside
\ with bone
[ without bone
Steak ...
Flank
Mutton :—
Le^ .. ...
Shoulder
Breast ...
Neck ...
Chops (trimmed)
Fork :—
Leg .... ...
Fore loin
Belly
Spare rib
Chops
Predominant price per lb.
October, 1905.
7d. to 7f d.
8fd. to 8fd.
7^d.
8f d. to 11 d.
Is. Id.
6&d. to 7%d
9fd. to lid.
8fd to 9fd.
7d. to 8 Id. .
8¿d.
lid. to Is.
(very little sold)
9fd. to lid.
(always converted into bacon)
lid.
lid.
May, 1906.
7d. to 7fd.
8%d.
7%d.
8|d. to lid.
Is. Id.
6^d. to 7|d.
9|d. to lid.
9f d. „ 9%d.
7|d. „ 8f d.
8%d.
lid. to Is.
9|d.
9fd. to lid.
9fd. „ lid.
