Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-04-28
The Health Department Says that IN.
drawn Poultry, Long Kept, Is Unfit
for Food.
Frightful Food Thrown Upon Market
from Cold Storage Plants---fiealth
Department Protests.

Health Commissioner whalen finds
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 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.
tlon; regular Inspections to guarantee
this.
An annual license fee Of $500, per.
mits to be issued to warehouses only
after they had complied with the SAM.
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 nd.
dressed the following communication
to 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 oil villages and
to the health officials In all parts Of
the State, the enactment and enforce.
ment Of ordinances prohibiting the sale
Of poultry. tish, 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 entrails and other viscera
and Offering them for sale long periods
OF time after being killed, and thu
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 polsons Of
the highest degree Of toxicIty. The In
testines and other digestive organs con
tain at all times materials which have
undergone putrefactive changes. II
this material be permitted to remain
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 viscera hav'
been removed. Decomposition Is fur
ther fastened by leaving the blood II
the animal.
ut has become the custom OF whole
sale poulterers and packers to purchas
poultry during the early summer, whel
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 stol
age without removing the entralls an
other viscera. Frequently they are no
offered for sale until several month
after killing.
.The process Of decomposition an
putrefactlon begins at once. Cold stoI
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 exhibition
and sale the decomposition continue
with renewed energy, impregnating tn
flesh with poisons. Flesh In which tn
blood has been permitted to remain
particularly susceptible to such decon
position, and this susceptibility Is In
creased by the long period OF freezin
and thaw!ng.
even with poultry that Is 'freshl
killed there Is frequently period @
several days between the time Q
Strengthening and sale. Not only Is
dangerous. but 1t Is repugnant TO GU
sense OF decency that the flesh we ar
70 eat shall lie for several days In clos
contact with purifying animal matter
Undoubtedly undrawn poultry, flesl
and game has caused many cases O
poisoning which have wrongfully bee
attributed to other causes. The poison
Ing resulting often resembled tina
caused by other poisons administered
by persons or taken with suicidal In
tent"
~
Physicians seemed inclined to dis
agree with the cold storage people al