BREMEN.
Ill
It is the custom of most Bremen butchers to sell the meat without bone,
the bone being disposed of for soup, and the effect is a higher level of prices
than would otherwise be the case. The best cuts of beef bought by the working
classes cost in October, 1905, 9\d. per lb., and the general range was between
this figure and 8^/., except for steak, which cost Is. Id. and is beyond working-
class households, and shin, which sold at 5^6?. Pork cost 9|d. to lid. per lb.
Veal, which is little eaten by working-class families, cost from lid. to Is. Id.
per lb., except shin, which cost 5¿d., and mutton cost from 8jd. to lid.
A great variety of sausage is sold both by butchers and by special dealers
in preserved meats, and, as no cooking is necessary, this kind of meat enters
largely into the dietary of working-class families ; pork and beef are the
principal ingredients. The sausages most in demand are “ Flock ” sausage,
costing lid. to Is. 3d., according to quality, and liver, “red” (blood), and
“ Mett ” (soft pork) sausages, which all cost from 8fd. to lid. per lb.
Attached to the public abattoir is the customary Freibank, at which inferior
meat is sold. Meat that does not pass the veterinary inspectors as of standard
quality is only sold in the raw state if deemed to be quite innocuous ; the
doubtful meat is boiled on the premises in large coppers. As a rule the best of
the inferior raw meat fetches five-eighths of the market price of good meat, but
the average price of the Freibank meat is only one-half that of the quotations
given above. Boiled beef and veal fetch about 2^d. per lb., and boiled pork 3\d.
A small deduction—a little over a farthing per lb.—is made for expenses, and
the rest of the proceeds is handed to the owners of the meat sold. The
“ Freibank ” is located in a separate building entered direct from the road, and
sales of meat are as a rule held four times a week, between the hours of 3.0
and 5.0 p.m. There is always an abundance of buyers, and more often than
not the supply of meat falls below the demand. The average attendance
is 250, but at times as many as 400 persons are counted. The buyers are first
admitted, fifty together, into a large waiting room, and after each has received
a card they pass into the “ Freibank ” room 10 at once. No one is allowed to buy
more than 6*6 lbs. (English) of meat, and restaurant and refreshment-house
keepers are not supplied at all. The soup from the boiled meat is distributed
to buyers free of charge in quantities of about a quart. The following state
ment shows the extent to which the “ Freibank ” meat offered for sale has
increased during the past four years :—
Year.
1901- 2
1902- 3
1903- 4
1904- 5
1905- 6
Beef.
Cwt.
8120
1010-5
1482-2
1569-8
1874-0
Kind of Meat.
Pork.
Cwt.
646-1
825-9
994-2
8055
596 3
Veal.
Cwt.
48-5
839
78-7
54-5
50-2
Mutton.
Cwt.
5-7
7-8
31-3
27-8
16 4
Total
Quantity.
Cwt.
15123
1928-1
2586-4
2457-6
2536-9
Value.
£ S.
2,412 14
3,070 5
4,536 9
4,125 7
4,493 18
There is a special department in the abattoir for hoi ses ; it is equipped with
all modern improvements, and has its separate entrance and exit. According
to a recent report of the director, “ with the exception of the department for
pigs no part of the municipal abattoir has grown so much during the past
35 years as that devoted to horses. In the first complete year, 1883-4, only
978 horses and 78 foals were killed, but in 1905-6 2,403 horses and 45 foals,
making a total of 2,449 against 1,056 22 years ago. Meanwhile, the
population of Bremen itself had nearly doubled. Horseflesh is sold by
several butchers, who are prohibited from dealing simultaneously in other kinds
of meat. The usual price is about 4\d. per lb., though fillet costs a little more
where this cut is sold separately, and chopped meat may be had as low as 3\d.
Boiled horsemeat is sold at 4}¿d. and smoked meat at o^d., v hich is the general
price of horsemeat sausage, of which a considerable amount is sold.
