The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-11

with nerhaDs one or more letters of the somewhat cabalistic looking leg end; "U. s. Ins'd 6. P's'd." The aver age person knows in a vague sort of way that these marks bear witness to the fact that the quarter or car cass from which the meat in question has been cut has been passed as whole some by the federal government, but few have any definite knowledge Of the way in which it has been thus passed or of the agency through which the government has been able to Judge as to it's quality. This lack of general knowledge in this regard is largely at tributable to the fact that the Federal Meat Inspection is one of those pecu- liarly unobtrusive government agen- cies which carry on vast and vltally significant activities without making much noise about it.
 Thus, though 60 per cent of the meat eaten in this country has been inspected, only here and there is found an individual who appreciates the sig nificance of the meat inspection ser vice. Perhaps only by an abrupt apse into the state of affairs that existed before 1906, when the first effective federal meat Inspection law was pass ed, would it be possible to bring home to the public at large just what meat inspection means to this country now. after 25 years of growth that has made the meat inspection division ln personnel one of the largest divisions in the Department of Agriculture and the service the most efficient of it's kind in the world
 It is easy, of course,' to cite impress sive figures, to say that in the past 10 years the division has inspected over 555,000,000 animals and condemned over 100000 on account of the pres ence of 45 different diseases including tuberculosis, cholera, erysipelas, tum- or, abscess, gangrene, tape worm, trichinae and cancer, all of which, in the good old pre-inspection days, we used to eat It is easy to state that Inspection stations are now located in | 875 establishments in 244 cities and towns, and that it takes over 2.5OO in spectors and assistants to see to 1t that the meat which enters into our inter- state and foreign commerce is sound and wholesome. It is easy to give sta- tistics of inspection, but it is not easy to convey an adequate idea of the actual scope of the Inspection or of the scrupulous care with which the work is ordered and carried out
 Perhaps as good a way as any to | suggest something of the nature of the meat inspection service and the 1 literally microscopic care with which it keeps watch oyer our meat supply. lis to cite in detail some of the specific | instructions under which inspectors work in the slaughter houses.
 Take, for example, the provisions ] for making it impossible to use as hu- man food meat that has been con- | demned. The meat Is put in a tank 1 under the eye of the inspector, col bring matter "or other substance des- ignated by the department" is added. the tank is officially sealed, and live steam under pressure of over 40 pounds is turned in for a Sufficient time effectually to destroy the contents for food purposes" If the establish ment in question has no tank available for this purpose the meat is "denatur- ed with crude carbo1ic acid or other prescribed agent or destroyed by fn- cineration."
 The very construction of the build ings in which meat products for in- terstate shipment are handled is sub- ject to rigid regulation by the inspec- ton authorities. Before the govern ment will undertake inspection the plant in question must fulfil the sani- tary requirements of the Department of Agriculture. Adequate provision for light and ventilation must be made; walls, floors and ceilings must be so finished as easily to be clean ed, and the floors must be watertight. Modern lavatory accommodations, with running hot and cold water, soap towels, etc., must be provided for em- ployees, and all clothing worn by those who handle meat must be scrupulous- ly clean. Even the exterior premises come under the regulation of the in- spection authorities. Yards must be thoroughly well drained, and ''the ac- cumulation on the premises of any material in which flies may breed such as hog hair, homes, paunch con- tents, or manure, is forbidden"
 There is a long list of restrictions
 as regards the preparation of manu- factured meat products, which before T the enactment of the meat inspection laws, were subject to wholesale adul- teration. Thus it is forbidden to add more than 2 per cent of cereal to sau- sage, or to add any at alf without ad- hitting it on the labels; forbiddep tc put out any pork products to be eater without cooking, unless all pork that enters into it's manufacture shall have
 been streated to kill trichinas; forbid.
 den to use intestines as ingredients o1
 meat food products; forbidden to labe
 any product as special" fancy"
 "selected," best g finest" absolute.
 
 ly pure," or "100 per cent pure," un.
 less the quality of the product fully
 justifies the term. And section '
 Paragraph 2 of Regulation specifics
 that "the word ham without any pre-.
 fix indicating the species of anima
 from which it is derived. shall be used
 on labels only in conhection with pork
 hams"
 Provision is made for reinspectior
 of meats that have already been pass. ed, and if at any time in its pro.
 gross from slaughter house to the con.
 sumner an article is found to have be.
 come unsound, the original stamp i:
 removed or defaced and the article
 condemned.
 The club that makes all these provi } sions effective is the regulation in re
 gard to transportation, which forbid any "carrier or other person" from