but there should be some kind of law or keep people from selling bad calls especially me yes near the turn of the century episodes like this were common frequent illness sometimes even death follow the eating of food which was tainted unfit for human consumption there were of course many who realized the need for some kind of adequate control over the preparation and marketing of food that would protect the average family from the dangers of contracting disease and yet most of them were powerless to do anything about it but one of those who felt he could do something about it was another he wrote a novel it was not a pleasant novel it was a bitter overdrawn indictment of conditions which the writer upton sinclair but existed in most of the packing houses of the next constitutional right to demand that the government do something about the proper handling of meat for their table as a result the president himself theodore roosevelt gave his personal and document to legislation that would create federal handling in the major packing plants of the nation and so it was that in july nineteen hundred and six are not requiring government control of meat inspection re inspection and supervision of processing was passed from that time right up to the present that law has had a profound effect upon the health and well being out every american citizen when first the law to make sure that made all kinds  properly inspected for wholesomeness and purity of federal meat inspection service was set up and charged with the responsibility of seeing that on be handled in interstate commerce or for export was carefully examined from the live animal to its final form that is why today more than two thirds of on weeks old bears this small purple stamp the stamp of wholesomeness backed by the assurance of uncle sam himself and which is  imprinted is free from disease and can be eaten without fear of time and actually probably all of us at one time or another have seen the little purple stamp on meat that we bought at our local butcher shop but not many of us have been aware of what is behind that stamp the complex organization and devote a great attention to detail that is part and parcel of the federal meat inspection service as a matter of fact the placing of the purple circle of wholesomeness upon a piece of meat is the very last and least important of the many many acts which preceded the story of meat inspection begins in the department of agriculture building in washington where the maid inspection division coordinates the activities of inspectors all over the country and gauged in their sent many other kinds of inspection work these inspectors are highly trained men many of them are graduate doctors a veterinary medicine and all have had to pass rigid tests as to ability and character because in their hands lies the responsibility for maintaining the wholesomeness of the meat we eat their activities are wide and varied but their word is law around every major packing plant and they are generally looked upon as wise counsel as in all matters pertaining to the handling of meat actually the inspection service starts with the very structure of the packing house itself because the physical attributes of places where meat is handled are of direct interest to the meat inspection service they must conform to very high standards and thousands of details even such things as hand washing facilities and the screens on the windows come under the careful scrutiny of the inspectors before a packing plant becomes entitled to government inspection service the result is that the places where the meat we eat is processed are models of cleanliness but now let's see some of the many many ways that our government inspection of meat products stop wholesomeness of the be the little park and lamb that we buy at the butcher shop take these pine fat steers for example brought from a western state to a mid continent packing plant they with many others are first co fined in a holding pen so they can be closely examined by meat inspectors before slaughter the holding pens are so arranged and so lighted that the inspectors assisted by employees of the packing company can study the animals when they ar are moving this makes it possible for the trained eye of the inspector to pick out any we kill evidences of on helping us when such an animal is found it is segregated from the rest in a separate pen while the help they want are passed on into the packing house for slaughter in its segregation pen the animal whose help is in doubt is given a very thorough examination by an inspector and on his findings is either approved for slaughter or is put in one out to other categories these are known as us condemned in which case the animal is not permitted to be slaughtered for food or us suspect which means that the animal must be slaughtered separately from the normal ones and be given a special post mortem examination to make certain it is not diseased inside the packing house every step connected with the handling of the animals beginning with the slaughtering operation is closely scrutinized by the inspectors and even the ou clothing of the workers has to meet his approval before the day's work begins now comes close supervision by the inspectors of each operation in connection with the handling of the carcass packing plant employees are required to tag the head w serial number that corresponds to one put on the body of the animal this makes it possible for the two to be identified together if any disease condition is found in either one an important part of the head inspection is to cut open certain glands and also cysts which would indicate the presence of a parasite that causes tapeworm in those who eat the meat even the tongue is given a close inspection because an abnormality there might be a clue to disease and while the head is being inspected open by the inspector to make doubly certain that they are in healthy condition the next precaution uncle sam takes with meat animals is called the real inspection here in the highly skilled hands and eyes quickly examined each half of the split carcass and inspect the lymph glands the inspectors have been trained to detect abnormalities through the sense of touch if anywhere in the carcass the slightest abnormality is detected all parts of the animal are mark with sections of a tag each bearing the same serial number and us retained in large letters these tags make it possible to assemble the various parts for what is called frontal inspection which is more detailed than the first inspection and guarantees that if there is any disease present in the carcass it can be accurately located and classified in some cases only one or two organs may have been affected by abnormality and these alone are condemned by all the rest of the passed on for food however it may be necessary to condemn the whole carcass in such cases it is marked u s inspected and condemned all condemned products are held under the supervision of the inspectors until they are converted into fertilizer or other inedible materials meanwhile another detailed inspection is being given the best arise they are separated and the inedible portions removed from those which are fit for food special training is necessary for the inspectors w do this work since it is highly important that extraordinary sanitary precautions be taken with every step this careful attention for the way in which livers hearts help me tongues and tribe i handled continuos after the visceral have left the slaughtering departments specially devised equipment is used to transport the meat to the refrigerators and constant inspection of the cleanliness of the equipment there is part of the job of protecting consumers now let's see what is happening to the beef carcass which was so carefully inspected before it was sent to the cooling room here the meat again comes under close supervision by the government inspector the man in the center and it is divided into the commercial beef cuts with which we're all familiar but the products which come from this carcass cutting department that are to be used in cured small sausage and canned meats get an extra amount of inspection attention for instance let's see how carefully an ordinary ham is watched by the united states me inspectors as it goes through the various curing and smoking processes to begin with the products used to cure the ham that is the nitrates salt spices and other condiments must meet the purity specifications of the meat inspection division the vet's in which the meat is cured must be scrupulously clean and of special construction that permits frequent scrubbing after the curing period the hammer is removed from the vat and an inspector is right on the job to examine it for soundness and cleanliness and to see that it is individually washed in clear water before being taken to the smoke house here to no detail is too small to be carefully scrutinized by the government inspectors they even pass on the kind of cord that is used to hold a hand to the small tree suspended from an overhead rail finally when the hammer has been smoked inspectors take temperatures of the ready to eat products containing park to make certain that they have been heated sufficiently to kill any trickiness which may be present in the park and at this point employees under the inspectors supervision probably deep into the meat to make sure that it has been properly cured all the way through so that no sour spots will develop those same careful supervision by the inspectors of smoked meats extends to all kinds of processed meats sausage for example gets a lot of attention from the government man beginning with the ingredients of pork or beef and the spices used in it and continuing right down to the moment the sausage is packed for marketing but the work of the inspectors is not limited to guarding the holes in the suppression needs ham sausage and the like  extends also into the caring department where every step in the process of preparing a canned meat product for market is constantly under water for lives the cleanliness of the cans the methods used for filling them sealing them and he processing or cooking here especially extra care is taken by the inspectors to make certain that every batch of cans does get the proper amount of processing and this is done  ingenious way by fastening to every basket of cans a colored tag which changes color after the basket has gone through the heap processing not at a glance an inspector can tell whether a bat has been cooked or not then as a final check on the wholesomeness and goodness of canned meats frequent samples are picked at random from every day's production and placed in a high temperature incompletion room where they remain until the inspector is satisfied that the content does not spoil under heat and that the cams are whole and sound so you see when you buy a meat product in a can bearing this stamp of approval by your government you can rest assured that its purity has been guarded from beginning to end yes there are many many ways in which the meat inspection service of the department of agriculture protect our health the multitudinous function of inspectors of every type meat animal impacting plant is only part of the story for example seven laboratories are maintained across the nation in which samples of meat food products of the ingredients used in their ration can be regularly analyzed even such things as the kind of paint used in packing houses is tested in the scientific centers furthermore the federal inspection service exercises close control over the labeling of all the products to see that no misleading information is allowed on a label and that an exact description of the product tells the housewife what she is getting through your government goes to great lengths to see that the meat we eat is good and pure but bear in mind that not all meat is government inspected however more than two thirds of all meat sold in this country is inspected by uncle sam's man and other cost about health of every citizen is important to the continued greatness of america that is why today the vast resources of our great government agency and the skill and intelligence of highly trained act is punched and we devoted to the