The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-06
MEAT INSPECTION.
Process by which the Purity of the
American Product Is Guaranteed.

One of the busy places in indianapolis
little known to the public is the govern
ment microscopic inspection room at
Kingaa & Co.'S abattoir. 1t is a branch
of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the
United States, Department of Agriculture,
and is organized under the law of 1891, en-
titled IAN act to provide for the inspection
of live cattle, hogs and the carcasses and
products thereof which are the subjects of
interstate commerce and for other puL-
poses." Under this law, and as a con-
cession to foreign governments, all swine
slaughtered in the United States for export
trade are subject to government inspection
as to their sanitary condition and fitness
for food. The work here gives employment
to two inspectors, two assistant inspectors
and four livestock inspectors, all of whom
are skilled veterinarians, four taggers and
twenty-five lady microscopists. The entire
force in this city is under the supervision
of DR.. T. ]. Turner.
The rules of the department require four
inspections of all hogs arriving at the stock
yards for slaughter-two ante-mortem in
spections, a post-mortem inspection and a
microscopic inspection. After the animals
have passed the stock yards inspection
they are subject to a second inspection in
the abattoir pens a third at the time of
slaughter, and if intended for export or
interstate trade, to a microscopic inspec-
ton. The last is for trichinae which can
not be detected in any other way, The
twenty-five young women who do the mi
crOScOpic inspecting are appointed after a
civil-service examination. They all occupy
one large room, and a very busy place it is.
They work seven hours a day, and during
that time no sound is heard in the room
except the steady click of twenty two
from side to side. The meat is examined
by samples cut from each piece, or, in the
case of whole carcasses intended for ex-
port, three samples, one from the neck,
one from the diaphragm and one from the
tenderloin. These are the exposed parts of
the animal, and If there are any trichinae
parts. The samples, which are very small
slices cut off in the cooling room, are
placed in a small self-locking tin box,
which bears a numbered tag corresponding
with one placed on the piece or carcass
from which the. samples are taken. These
tags are furnished by the government, the
numbers running consectively up into the
millions. The boxes containing the samples
go from the cooling room to the miscros
copist, where a small piece from each
sample is macerated with water, spread on
a small glass plate and compressed into a
then film suitable for microscopic examina-
ton. The plate undergoes the most
searching scrutiny, and the smallest trace
of trichinae is sure to be discovered. Each
of the twenty-five microscopists examines
from IIty 10 Sixty samples Il Qay, ana edcn
one makes a daily report to the assistant
inspector in charge, who reports to DR..
Turner, and he makes monthly report. to
the department at Washington. Every
sample inspected is classified by it's tag
number, by which it is identified at every
stage with the piece or carcass it comes
from.
The number of diseased animals discov-
cred by the microscopic inspection is sur
prisingly small-only a little more than
one-half of per cent. Every single ship
ment or separate consignment of meats for
expectation has to nave attached to it
certificate of inspection, giving the name
of the shipper, the date of Inspection the
name of the consignee, the country to
which exported, and the numbers of the
stamps or tags attached to the goods. All
the facts thus stated in the certificate are
copied in a stub of the book of certificates.
which is signed by the inspector and
when the blanks are all filled the book is
forwarded to the department at Washing
ton. In this way permanent record is
kept by which every carcass and every
piece of meat exported can be traced. The
inspections made previous to the micro
scopic inspection are for all other diseases
than trichinae, so between the various in
spections it is practically impossible for
diseased hog fO mass the ordeal