Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-05-19
The Health Department Says that In.
drawn Poultry, Long Kept, Is Unfit
for Food.
Frightful Food Thrown Upon Market
from Cold Storage Plants---Health
Department Protests.

Wealth Commissioner whalen finds
the greatest foe Of the public health
In the Beef Trust.
Ear seven months DR.. whalen has
6eeu tying to get an ordinance through
ti'e city council forbidding the sale of
any slaughtered poultry, fish, game, or
any animal used for food purposes. re.
'fris,sr:ite1 or otherwise, (which has not
been property drawn and prepared by
removing the cntrails at the time of
slaughter" Storage men estimated
that S,uO.OO pounds Of meats In Chi.
ctgo warehouses would come under the
ban OF this law.
DE-. whaien's ordinance contains the
following provisions:
No fowls or other animals to be put
In storage without the entrails being
ssVmoved.
Warehouses to be In sanitary condi.
Zion; regular inspections to guarantee
this.
An annual license tee Of $500. per.
,nitx To be issued to warehouses only
after they had complied with the SAM.
tary provisions.
Every article to be tagged permanent.
~ u show the date II Is put In stor.
ae..
Retail sroccrs to exhibit storage
meats In original packages from the
warehouses, to show the age Of the
food. ond It's history.
Our inspectors have found meats
two and three years old In the ware.
souses," DIR. Whalen aid.
So important has this subject become
Shat the Secretary Of the State Board
OF Health. DR.. James A. Egan. has nd.
dresscd the following communication
80 the mayor Of every city In Illinois:
'-rhe Illinois State Board of Health.
acting In tho interest Of the lives and
health Of the people. urgently recon.
rnends To the mayors and city councils
9f all cities aud the presidents and
lizards Of trustees Of all villages and
60 the health officials In all parts OF
the State, the enactment aud enforce.
;,,cnt Of ordinances prohibiting the sale
OF poultry, Dish. game, or any animal
used for food that has not been prop.
eriy cleaned and drawn ut the time
OF the siaughtering.
''rhe ueoessIty for such ordinances
and their enforcement IL plainly lndi.
Gated by the rapidly growing custom
OF storing poultry, fish, and game con.
Gaining the entrails and other viscera
and Offering them for sale long periods
or time after being killed, and the
danger 10 public health caused by this
custom.
cit IL known to all physicians and
physiologists that there are generated
In the body OF any animal pOlsons Of
the Highest degree Of toxlcity. The In.
nsseines and other digestive organs con.
tain 1t all times materials which have
sunxersons putrefactive changes. II
this material be permitted to remain
In the body after death the polsons
ueaarated may infiltrate the entire
s1esh, naaking 1t dangerous to the per.
'sspa vho eats II. The body, In which
che viaeera are permitted to rcmsIn,
undssgoes decomposition much more
capldiy than when such viscera have
I 6sen removed. Decomposition Is fur.
ther fastened BY leaving the blood In
the animal.
1T has become the custom OF whole.
sale p0ultercrs and packers to purchase
poultry during the early summer, when
the prices are lowest, and to keep 1t
In cold storage until winter or until
the prices are highest. Such fowls are
killed without bleeding, often plucked
before death, and placed In cold stor.
age without removing the entralls and
other viscera. Frequently they are not
offered for sale until several months
after killing.
The process OF decomposition and
putrefactiOn begins at once. Cold stor'
age and freezing may limit the rotting
process, but do not stop 1t. When
pouitry or animals are taken from cold
storage and thawed out for exhibition
and sale the decomposition continues
with renewed energy, impregnating the
f,esk with poisegs. Flesh In which the
5losd has been permitted to remain IL
particularly susceptible to such decom-
position, and this susceptibility Ia In.
creased by the long period Of freezing
and thawing.
"Exem with poultry that Is freshly
killed there is frequently a period OF
several days between the time OF
s.auxhtesing and sale. Not only Is 1t
dangerous. but It Ia repugnant to our
sense Ct decency that the flesh we are
eo eat shai1 Ne for several days In close
contact with purifying animal matter.
"CnGioubtedly undrawn poultry, flesh,
and game has caused many cases Of
sssisSss;nS which have wrOngfully been
attributed to other causes. The poison
ing resulting often resembled that
caused by other polsons administered
by perx0nS or taken with suicidal In
Eent."
~
T'hyslcians seemed inclined 10 dis
agree with the cold storage people az
In che possibility of storing food prod.
uets t1s years or more. DIR. W.. A.
KuAeWs1ki was decided in his opinions
chat coid storage products were dele