Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-08-18

Health Commissioner Whalen mas
the greatest foe of the public health
In the Beef Trust.
For seven months DR.. 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.
DR.. 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 Zee 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 1t 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. DR.. James A. Egan, has ad.
dressed the following communication
20 the mayor OF every city In Illinois
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
TO the health officials In all parts Of
the State, the enactment and enforce
ueut VI OEuiuuuSSo VIoutu'tiuS suS Suss
OF poultry. Dish. game, or any animal
used for food that has not been prop
er,y cleaned and drawn ut the time
Of the slaughterlng.
"The necessity for such ordinances
and their enforcement Is plainly indi
Gated by the rapidly growing custom
OF storing poultry. fish, and game con
talnlng the entralls and other viscera
and Offering them for sale long periods
OF time after being killed, and tn,
danger TO public health caused by THU
custom.
ut Is known to all physicians ant
psychologists that there are generate,
In the body OF any animal poisons o
the highest degree OF toXlclty. The In
testines aud other digestive organs con
tain at all times materials which hav'
undergone putrefactive changes. !
this material be permitted to remall
In the body after death the poison
generated may infiltrate the entir
flesh, making 1t dangerous to the per
son who eats 1t. The body, In whicl
the vlscera are permitted to remain
undergoes decomposition much NOR
rapidly than when such vlscera hav
been removed. Decomposition Is fur
Their fastened by leaving the blood Il
the animal.
1T has become the custom OF whole
sale poulterers and packers to purchas
poultry during the early summer, whe
the prices are lowest, and to keep
In cold storage until winter or unit
the prices are highest. Such fowls ar
killed without bleeding, often plucke
before death, and placed In cold stoi
age without removing the entrails an
other v!scera. Frequently they are no
offered for sale until several month
after killing.
THE process OF decomposition an
putrefaction begins at once. Cold stol
age and freezing may limit the rottin
process, but do not stop 1t. Whe
poultry or animals are taken from col
storage and thawed out for exhibitio
and sale the decomposition continue
with renewed energy, impregnating IL
flesh with polsons. Flesh In which II
blood has been permitted to remain
particularly susceptible to such decon
position, and this susceptibility Is II
creased by the long period Of freezir
and thawing.
Even with poultry that Is fresh
killed there Is frequently period
several days between the time I
slaughterlng and sale. Not only Is
dangerous, but 1t Is repugnant to OF
sense OF decency that the flesh we al
20 eat shall lie for several days m cloi
contact with purifying animal matte
Undoubtedly undrawn poultry, fies
and game has caused many cases I
poisoning which have wrongfully bee
attributed to other causes. The polsol
Ing resulting often resembled thl
caused by other polsons administers
by persons or taken with suicidal II
tent"
~
Physicians seemed inclined 10 dl
agree with the cold storage people a
10 the possibility OF storing food Dro(