The Tupelo journal., 1906-06-15

select the pieces they wish. and fire.
uuently throw them down upon the
dirty floor beside their working bench.
Even in cutting the meat upon the
bench, the work lis usually held
pressed against their aprons, and
these aprons were, as q rule, indie
scribably filthy. They were made, In
most cases. is leather or Of rough
sacking, and bbre long accumulated
grease and dirt. In only a few
places were suitable oilcloth aprons
worn. Moreover, men were seen to
climb from the floor and stand, with
shoes dirty with the refuse Of the
floors, on the tables upon which the
meat was handled. They were seer
at the lunch hour sitting on the tables
on the spot on which the meat pro-
uct was handled, and all this under
the very eye of the superintendent of
the room, showing that this was the
common practice.
Meat scraps were also found being
shoveled into receptacles from dirty
floors where they were left to lie un
til again shoveled into barrels or into
machines for chopping. These floors,
it must be noted, were in most cases
damp and soggy, in dark, %ill-ventilat-
ed rooms, and the employees, In ut
ter ignorance Of cleanliness or dan
ger to health, eXpectorated at will
upon them. In a 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 processes 1t was
in the way of gathering dirt, sp1inters
floor filth and the expectoration of tu-
berculous' and other diseased work
ers. Where comment was made to
the floor superintendent about these
matters, 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 prod
ucts and in the form Of sausages,
which are prep radtoaeebetyph nsh
which are prepared to be eaten with
out being cooked.
A particularly glazing instance . OF
uncleanliness was found in a room
where the best grade Of sausage was
being prepared for export. 1t was
made from carefully-selected meats,
and was being prepared to be eaten
uncooked. In this case the employe
cafted the chopped-up meat across a
room in a barrow, the handles OF
which were fifty with grease. The
meat was then thrown out upon tables,
and the employee climbed upon the
table, handled the meat with his un.
washed 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 indef.
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 filthier trousers.
AS an extreme example of the entire
disregard of any notion of cleanliness
in handling dressed meat, we saw a
hog that had been killed, cleaned,
washed and started on its way to the
cooling room fall from the sliding rail
to a dirty wooden floor and slide part
way into a filthy mems toilet room. II
was picked up by two employees, placed
upon a truck, carried into the cooling
room and hung up with other car
casses. no effort being made to clean
it.
inspection Method Defects.
The radical defect in the present
syLtem of inspection is that it does
not go far enough. 1t is confined al
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 drought many pro-
cesses in all of which there Is posi-
bility of contamination through un'
sanitary handling, and further danger
through the use of chemicals. During
all these processes of preparation
there is no government inspection 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 a
label stating they have been passed
upon by government inspectors.
AS to the investigation of the al
legged S of dyes, p~reservatives OF
chemicals in the preparation OF cured
meats, sausages 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 observations have
already been partly given. Other in
stances of how products may be made
uD and still secure the stamp Of gov
ernment inspection are here given. In
one well-known establishment we
came upon fresh meat being shoveled
into barrels, and a regular proportion
being added Of stale scraps that had
lain on a dirty floor in the corner Of
a room for some days previous. In an
other establishment, equally well
known, a long table was noted covered
with several huadred pounds of cooked
scraps of beef and other meats. Some