The herald., 1898-01-17
FILTHY MEAT
Often Offered For Sale in
Los Angeles
bob" VEAL ALSO PLENTIFUL
A DAYS ROUNDS WITH THE
MEAT INSPECTOR
bob" VEAL ALSO PLENTIFUL
Unscrupulous Peddlers Who Constant
ly Violate the Law-Reeking
Slaughter Houses

"If the people of this city knew what
kind of meat some dealers are selling TO
| them they would be almost willing to do
violence to the dealer" was the some
what startling remark made by Meat
and Milk Inspector f. j. Hughes yes
tarday. II do not desire to pose as an
alarmist. but there is meat being
brought to this market the sale of which
should be made felony. Any person
who thinks this an exaggerated state
nent has only to go with me on my
daily rounds to be convinced. Don't un-
derstand me to say that there is no
good meat here, for on the contrary,
there is vastly more good than bad, but
that which is not good is, some OF 1t, so
bad that / wonder that any person.
however ignorant of meat, would buy
it,"
If any person possessed of a weak
stomach should desire to take up Mr..
Hughes offer to show what he has to DO,
and the difficulty with which he accom-
plishes his work, let them think twice
before starting, and then decide to send
another person as a substitute. What
they would see would convince them
that the eating of meat purchased at
some of the stores could be classed as
that bliss which is said to come with
certain degrees of ignorance. The say
ing that one-half of the world does not
know how the other half lives might be
changed so as to indicate an equal ig-
norance of what the other half eats.
Bad as is the condition of affairs in
some places, it Is not nearly so bad as 1t
was when a few weeks ago Mr.. Hughes
took charge of the office. Before that
not much attention was paid to the meat
in the markets and persons who desired
to violate the law had little difficulty in
doing so. 1t was not the fault Of the
health department, because sufficient
assistance was not given that depart
ment. The attention of the department
was called to the matter two months
ago and a committee of the board of
health made an investigation by person
ally visiting a number Of the slaughter
houses and meat shops. What they saw
amazed them. They discovered a reg
ular traffic in bob" veal and a condition
Of some of the slaughter-houses which
rendered impossible the delivery of clean
liiCdI liOiu ouCu PldCeS. lie IcSuiL was
an appeal to the council for the appoint
ment of a practical butcher as meat in
spector, and after several weeks delay
Mr.. Hughes was appointed. Although
his title is that of meat and milk inspect
or, he devotes his whole time to the III
spection of meat.
Particular attention has been paid to
the traffic in bob" veal For the benefit
of persons who do not understand that
term, 1t may be stated that bob yea
is the meat of unborn calves or of caiv
but few days old. The unborn cal'
are only occasionally marHe,ed, To-.
those one or two days old r..e brought to
the city every day. The Jaw forbids the
sale of calf for consumption as food
which is under four weeks old and under
sixty pounds in weight. Chemical anal
ysis Of this class of meat has proved that
1t possesses no nourishing qualities and
that its use is dangerous in that it fire.
quently causes disease.
A recently adopted ordinance gives
the inspector the right to seize and con-
denim such meat and compel the peddler
of it to take it to the garbage crematory.