Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-05-26
The Health Department Says that Un.
drawn Poultry, Long Kept, Is Unfit
for Food.
FrightfuI Food Thrown Upon Market
from Cold Storage Plants---f1ealth
Department Protests.

Health Commissioner Whalen finds
the greatest foe of the public health
in the Beef Trust.
been trying to get an ordinance through
the city council forbidding the sale of
any slaughtered poultry, fish. game. or
any animal used for food purposes. re.
frlgerated or otherwise, (which has not
been properly drawn and prepared by
removing the entrails ut the time of
slaughter" Storage men estimated
that 100000 pounds of meats In Chi.
cago warehouses would come under the
ban of this law.
Or. whalen's ordinance contains the
following provisions:
No fowls or other animals to be put
In storage without the entrails being
removed.
Warehouses to be In sanitary condi.
ton; regular inspections to guarantee
this.
An annual license fee Of $500. per.
mlts to be issued to warehouses only
after they had complied with the sanl.
tary provisions.
Every article to be tagged permanent.
~ to show the date II Is put In stor.
age.
Retail grocers to exhibit storage
meats in original packages from the
warehouses. to, show the age Of the
food. and its history.
''Our inspectors have found meats
two and three years old In the ware.
houses" DIR. whalen said.
so important has this subject become
that the Secretary of the State Board
OF Health. DIR. James a. Egan, has al.
dressed the following communication
to the mayor of every city In Illinois
"rhe Illinois State Board Of Health,
acting In the interest Of the lives and
health of the people, urgently recon.
mends to the mayors and city councils
OF all cities and the presidents and
boards OF trustees of all villages and
to the health officials In all parts OF
the State, the enactment and enforce
ment OF ordinances prohibiting the sale
OF poultry. fish. game, or any animal
used for food that has not been prop
erly cleaned and drawn at the time
Of the slaughter!ng.
1.-THE necessity for such ordinances
and their enforcement Is plainly lndl
Gated by the rapidly growing custom
Of STORM; poultry. fish, and game con
tainln; the cntralls and other viscera
ana Offering them for sale long periods
OF time after being killed, and the
danger TO public health caused by this
custom.
1T Is known to all physicians and
Psychologists that there are generated
In the body OF any animal po!sons OF
the highest degree Of tox!clty. The In
testlnes and other digestive organs con
tain at all times materials which have
undergone putrefact!ve changes. II
this material be permitted to remair
In the body after death the po!sons
generated may lntiltrate the entirs
flesh, making 1t dangerous to the per
son who eats 1t. The body, In which
the v!scera are permitted to remain
under;oes decomposition much more
rapidly than when such vlscera have
been removed. Decomposition Is fur
Their fastened by leavln; the blood In
the animal.
1T has become the custom OF whole
sale poulterers and packers to purchase
poultry during the early summer, when
the prices are lowest, and TO keep II
la 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 vlscera. Frequently they are moi
offered for sale until several months
after killing.
THE process OF decomposition and
putrefactlon begins at once. Cold stor
age and freezing may limit the rottlna
process, but do not stop It. WheN
poultry or animals are taken from cold
storage and thawed out for exhibition
and sale the decomposition continues
with renewed energy, impregnatlng the
flesh with polSons. Flesh in which tbs
blood has been permitted 10 remain i.
particularly susceptible to such decom
position, and this susceptibility Is In
creased by the long period OF freezing
and thawlng.
Even with poultry that Is freshly
killed there Is frequently a period OF
several days between the time Of
slaughter!ng and sale. Not only Is i
dangerous, but It Is repugnant to oul
sense Of decency that the flesh we are
10 eat shall lie for several days In close
contact with purifying animal matter
Undoubtedly uRdrawn poultry, flesh
and game has caused many cases OF
poisoning which have wrongfully beer
attributed to other causes. The poison
ing resulting often resembled that
caused by other pOlsons administered
by persons or taken with suicidal In
tent"
~
Physicians seemed inclined to dis
agree with the cold storage people a.
40 the r..alfttlitv ~ ofnriuu food vroI