The Washington times., 1895-06-23
INSPECTING BAD MEATS
How the Government Prevents
ExpOrtatiOn of Diseased Cattle.
MARKED By TAGS AND SEALS
Local Health Authorities Should, How
ever, Examine Small Abattoirs, the
A Abom Ina ble-U nsound Meat That
Reaches Market Comes from These.

DR.. ID. Z. Salmon, chief of the bureau
OF animal indusry of the Agricultural De-
partmcnt, has prepared for the coming
year a book, to be issued shortly after the
close of the present fiscal year, an inter
csting article on Federal Meat Inspection.
he begins with the commencement of the
inspection of meat by the Federal Govern
ment in May, 1891. The law requires
that inspected meat be marked for identi
ficauon, and this is accomplished by at
taching a meat inspection tag TO each
quarter or piece with a wire and lead seal.
These tags are also intended under the
law as a means OF identifying the meat
which may be shipped from one State into
another, or to any foreign country.
All meat shipped abroad is now in
spected, and has been since the beginning
of the fiscal year 1892, but the large num-
ber of abattoirs doing an interstate trade
has made it impossible, up to the present
time, TO extend the service sufficiently
to include them all.
As the inspectors and assistant inspec-
tors were recently, however, placed in the
classified service it is probable that a
| larger number of competent and reliable
men can be secured than under the old sys-
tenn, and that the inspection service can be
correspondingly extended
CURED MEATS DO NOT ESCAPE.
Beginning with the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1891, Dr. Salmon gives the fig
ures Of the meat inspection for the years
since that date. The inspection of meat
is not confined to the carcasses or stock on
the hoof, but much of the meat which is
canned or salted is also inspected and
identified by a stamp placed on the crates
| or boxes i'll which the cured meats or
cans are packed.
Very often cured meats are shipped in
bulk, the pieces being placed directly
| into the cars without covering OF any
| kind. In this case the car forms the pack
| age and is sealed With the same seal that
is used for attaching tags to pieces of meat.
Previous to the fiscal year of 1894 no
! inspection had been attempted of hogs
| at the time of slaughter. The carcasses
| of those intended for the export trade
! to continental Europe had been micro
| scopically examined for trichtnae, but this
| inspection, of course, was insufficient to
reveal any other disease with which the
animals might be afflicted. This year the
| same method of inspection, before and
| after slaughter, has been applied to hogs
| that has been in operation with cattle
during the whole period of inspection.
A large quantity of pork which the rec
OruS SHOW 10 nave Deeu exported TO COu0-
| tries, not requiring inspection, was shipped
| to Belgium and Holland and even to Eng
| landforreshipmenti into Germany and France.
| This was on account of the packing houses
| having agents in those countries to whom
| large consignments were made and these
| agents sold the meat in smaller quantities
and forwarded them to their destination.
The cases OF provision were all marked
with the inspection stamp OF the bureau and
were covered by certificates, so they were
undoubtedly sold as American inspected
| pork.
SOME DANGEROUS DISEASES.
Among the diseases OF cattle the most
dangerous to the consumer of the meats
are those in which septic processes are
in progress or likely to develop. AS affected
| with this group of diseases cattle have
been condemned for septicaemia, pyaemia,
gaugrene, peritonitis, enetritis, metritis
| and abceSs.
| In most European countries the inspection
| of meat is regarded as strictly sanitary
| question, and q disease which is not likely
! to injure the health of the consumer is not