The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1906-06-09

VISIONS In the ~OuthOuSeS. Washing
sinks are either not furnished at all
or are small and dirty. Neither are
towels, soap or toilet paper provided.
Men and women return directly from
these places to plunge their unwashed
hands into the meat to be converted
into such food products Is sausages,
dried beef and other compounds.
Some of the o%uthouses are situated at
a long distance from the work rooms
and men do not take the trouble to
go to them. Hence, in some cases,
the resulting fumes swell the sum
of nauseating odors arising from the
dirty, blood-soaked, rotting wooden
floors, fruitful culture beds for the dis
ease germs of men and animals"
Here the report suddenly switches
to a brighter picture. 1t speaks of the
contrast observed by Reynolds In an
establishment visited by him in New
York where the rules of sanitation
observed, and where the ventilation
was excellent and the light abundant.
The Handling of Neat.
The investigators found that there
was absence of cleanliness everywhere
in the handling of meat. On this
point the report says:
1.-The workers climb over heaps Of
meat. select the pieces they wish, and
frequently throw them down upon the
dirty floor beside their working
bench. In cutting the meat upon the
bench the work is usually held pressed
against their aprons, and these aprons
were, as a rule, indescribably filthy.
Moreover men were seen to climb
from the floor and stand with shoes
dirty with the refuse on the floors, on
the tables on which the meat was han
died. They we're seen at the lunch
hour sitting on the tables on the spot
on which meat product was handled.
and all this under the very eye of the
superintendent of the room.
I'VE 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 gather
ing dirt, splinters, floor filth and ex-
p~ectoration of tuberculosis and other
diseased workers.
GIaring Un~cleanliness.
A particularly glaring instance of un-
cleanliness was found in a where
the best grade of sausage vas being
prepared for export. In this case the
employee carted the chopped-up meat
across in a roo in a barrow, the han
dies of which were filthy with grease.
The meat was then thrown upon Ia
bles, and the employe 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 w~heelbarrow, went back for
another load, and repeated this pro-
cess indefinitely. 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 filthier
trousers.
of Inspection.
Referring to methods of inspection,
the report says that the radical defect
in the present system is that it does
not go far enough. 1t is confined by
to passing on the healthfulness Of
animals at the time of killing. During
the process of preparing sausage and
other products there is no government
despite the fact that all the
products when sent out bear a label
that they have been passed
upon by government inspectors.
The phrase on the labels of canned
products, quality guaranteed" be-
meath the inspection mark, Is pro-
.Ounced to be wholly unwarranted and
unjustifiable. The report says that
the inspectors do not know what else
may have been placed in the can in
addition to inspected meat"
"In one establishment" says tho re
port, "a pile of sausages and dry moldy
meats, admittedly several
years old, were found, which the super
stated to us would be tanked
and converted into grease. The dis
position to be made of this "a wholly
optional with the superintendent or
representatives of the packers, as the
government does not concern itself
with the disposition of meats after
they have passed inspection on the
floor. 1t might all be treated
with chemicals, mixed with other
turned out in any form Of meat
product desired, and yet the packages
or receptacle in which it was to be
shipped out to the public would be
marked with a label that their con-
tents had been government inspect
Tubercu1Osis.
1.-THE unsanitary conditions in which
the laborers work and the feverish
pace which they are forced to main
tain inevitably affect their health. Ply
state hat tuberculosis is dis
proportionately prevalent in the stock
yards and the victims of this disease
expectorate on the spongy wooden
floors of the dark work rooms, from
r,h;oh fo11,,r cora,>o ~ ranof orn 1af0r