The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-06-05

the superintendent OF the room, SNOW
ing that this was the common practice.
Meat scraps were also found being
shoveled into receptacles from dirty
floors where they were left to lie until
again shoveled into barrels or into ma
chimes for chopping. These floors, 1t
must be noted, were in most cases
damp and soggy, in dark, ill-ventilated
rooms, and the employees in utter ignor-
ance of cleanliness or danger to health
eNpectorated at will upon them. In
word, we saw meat shoveled from filthy
wooden floors, piled on tables rarely
washed, pushed from. room to room IN
rotten box carts In all Of which pro-
cesses it was in the way Of gathering
dirt, splinters, floor filth and the expec-
toration of tubereulous and other dis
eased workers. Where comment was
made to floor superintendent about
these matteres it was always the reply
that this meat would afterwards be
cooked, and that this sterilization
would prevent any danger from its use.
Even this, it may be pointed out in
passing, is not wholly true. A very
considerable portion Of the meat so
handled is sent out as smoked products
and in the form of sausages, which are
prepared to be eaten without being
cooked.
A particularly glaring instance Of un-
cleanliness was found in room where
the best grade Of sausage was being
prepared for eSport.It was made from
carefully selected meats, and was being
prepared to be eaten uncooked. In this
case the employee carted the chopped
up meat across a room in barrow, the
! handles of which We're filthy with
grease. The meat was then thrown out
upon tables, and the employee climbed
upon the table, handled the meat with
his unwashed hands, knelt with his
dirty apron and trousers in contact
with the meat he was spreading out,
and, after he had finished his operation,
again took hold of the dirty handles of
the wheelbarrow, went back for another
load, and repeated this process indeti-
nitely, Inquiry developed the fact that
there was no water in this room at all,
and the only method the man adopted
! for cleaning his hands was to rub them
against his dirty apron or on his still
! filthter trousers
AS an example Of the entire disregard
on the part of employees Of any notion
of cleanliness in handling dressed meat,
we saw a hog that had just geen killed.
cleaned, washed and started on its way
| to the cooling room fall from the slid
ing rail to a dirty wooden floor and
slide part way into a filthy mems privy.
1t was picked up by two employees,
placed upon a truck, carried into the
cooling room and hung UP with other
carcasses, no effort being made to clean
| L.
Treatment Of Meat After Inspection.
The radical defect in the present sys-
TEN Of inspection is that it does not go
far enough. 1t is confined at present
by law to passing on the healthfulness
Of animals at the time Of killing; but
the meat that is used in sausage and in
the various forms Of canned products
and other prepared meat foods goes
through many processes, in all Of which
there is possibility Of contamination
through insanitary handling, and fur
| Their danger through the use OF chemi-
calls. During all these processes OF
preparation there Is no government in
spection and no assurance whatever
| that these meat-food products are
wholesome and fit for food-despite the
| fact that all these products, when sent
out, bear label stating they have been
passed upon by government inspectors,
/ AS to the investigation of the alleged
use of dyes, personalities or chemicals
in the preparation Of cured meats, saul
| sages and canned goods we are not yet
prepared to report We did look into
/ the matter of sanitary handling of the
meats being prepared for the various
food products. The results of our OBJ
/ servations have already been partly
given. Other instances of how products
may be made up, and still secure the
stamp of government inspection are
here given. In one well-known estab-
| lishment we came upon fresh meat be-
ing shoveled into barrels, and regular
proportion being added of stale scraps
| that had lain on dirty floor In the cor
ner of a room for some days previous
/ In another establishment, equally well
known, a long table was noted covered
with several pounds of cooked scraps Of
beef and other meats. Some Of these
meat craps were dry. leathery and I'M
fit to be eaten; and In the heap were
found pieces of pigskin, and even some
bits of rope strands and other rubbish
Inquiry evoked the frank admission
from the man in charge that this was
to be ground up and used in making
Apotted ham"
All Of these canned products bear la
bells of which the following is a sam
pie.
The contents of this package have
been inspected according to the
act of Congress. of March 8,
1891.
Quality Guaranteed.
The phraseology of these labels
wholly unwarranted, The government
inspectors pass only upon the healthful
ness of the animal at the time of kill
ing. They know nothing of the pro
cesses through which the meat ha
passed since this inspection. They d.
not know what else may have beei
placed in the cans in addition to in
spected meats. As a matter Of fact
they know nothing about the con
tents" Of the can upon which the pack
ers place these lahels-do not evel
know that it. contains what it purport
| ~ contain Tho lapand "OualitU p1IaY :.