Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-06-30
The Health Department Says that In.
drawn Poultry, Long Kept, Is Unfit
for Food.
Frightful Food Thrown Upon Market
from Cold Storage Plants---1ealth
Department Protests.

the greatest Zoe OF the puohc neaitn
In the Beef Trust.
For seven months DIR. whalen has
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.
frigerated or otherwise. (which has not
been properly drawn and prepared by
removing the entrails at the time OF
slaughter" Storage men estimated
that 100000 pounds of meats In Chi.
cago warehouses would come under the
ban Of this law.
DIR. 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.
tion; regular inspections to guarantee
this.
An annual license fee Of $500. per.
nlts 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 It 10 put In stor.
age.
Retail grocers to exhibit storage
meats In original packages from the
warehouses, to show the age Of the
food. and Ito history.
"Our inspectors have found meats
two and three years old In the ware
houses" DIR. Whalen said.
80 important has this subject become
that the Secretary Of the State Board
Of Health. DR.. James A. Egan, has al.
dressed the following communication
70 the mayor Of every city In Illinois:
1.-THE 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
20 the health officials In oil parts OF
the State, the enactment and enforce
mcnt Of ordinances prohibiting the sale
Of poultry, hsh, game, or any animal
used for food that has not been prop.
erly cleaned and drawn ut the time
Of the slaughtering.
"The necessity for such ordinances
and their enforcement Is plainly indi.
Gated by the rapidly growing custom
OF storing poultry. fish, and game con.
tanning the cntrails and other vlscera
and Offering them for sale long periods
OF time after being killed. and the
danger to public health caused by this
custom.
ut 10 known to all physicians and
psychologists that there are generated
In the body Of any animal polsons Of
the highest degree OF toxicity. The In.
testines and other digestive organs con.
tain ut all times materials which have
undergone putrefactive changes. II
this material be permitted to remain
In the body after death the poisons
generated may infltrate the entire
desh, making 1t dangerous to the per.
son who eats 1t. The body, In which
the vlscera are permitted to remain.
undergoes decomposition much more
rapidly than when such viscera have
been removed. Decomposition Is fur.
Their FASTENED by leaving the blood In
the animal.
"It 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 Il
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 entrails and
other viscera. Frequently they are not
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 rottIng
process, but do not stop 1t. When
poultry or animals are taken from cold
storage and thawed out for exhibition
and sale the decomposition continues
with renewed energy, impregnating the
flesh with po!sons. Flesh In which the
blood has been permitted to remain In
particularly susceptible to such decom-
position, and this susceptibility ia In.
creased by the long period Of freezing
and thawlng.
Even with poultry that Is freshly
killed there Is frequently period Of
several days between the time OF
Strengthening and sale. Not only Is 1t
dangerous. but II Ii repugnant to our
sense Of decency that the flesh we are
to eat shall lie for several days n close
contact with purifying animal matter.
Undoubtedly undrawn poultry, flesh,
and game has caused many cases OF
poisoning which have wrongfully been
attributed 10 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 az
10 the possibility OF storing food prod
ucts two years or more. DIR. w A.