Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; translated by E. Vernon Wilcox. With an introduction by John R. Mohler.

Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; translated by E. Vernon Wilcox. With an introduction by John R. Mohler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    industry, tlie value of which had reached the sum of $104,660,000 in 1881, and of acquiring and maintaining a pure and wholesome meat supply for our own people, passed a more effective act. This legislation authorized the issuance of regulations providing for the ante and post mortem examination of all cattle, sheep and hogs intended for export and interstate commerce, especially providing for post-mortem inspection of cattle the meat of which is designed for export; for a microscopic examination of all hogs for export in order that certificates could be issued setting forth their freedom from trichinosis; the condemnation of all diseased animals; the marking or stamping of all inspected carcasses and the labeling of food products made from such carcasses intended for export or inter- state traffic. The work connected with the enforcement of this act was placed under the care of the Bureau of Animal Industry, which had been established in 1884 for the purpose of collecting information con- cerning the nature, cause, treatment and prevention of diseases of animals and the publication of the best measures for the prevention and eradication of such diseases. These increased duties rendered it desirable that the various lines of work be divided, and accord- ingly, on April 1, 1891, the Bureau was organized into several divisions, one of which was designated the Meat Inspection Divi- sion, and, as its name implies, had, among other duties, special supervision of the inspection of meats for export and interstate commerce. Regulations were immediately adopted for the purpose of carrying into effect this act of Congress. A system of inspection was devised, a force of veterinarians and their assistants organized and the inspection of meats inaugurated within ten weeks from the passage of the act, or on May 12, 1891, at the abattoir of Eastman & Co., of New York City. Other abattoirs made application for inspection, and by the end of the first complete fiscal year, 1892, inspection had been granted to twenty-eight abattoirs in twelve different cities. It will thus be observed that federal meat inspection has only a very recent history, but one of which our people and our profes- sion can justly be proud. The microscopic examination of pork for trichina was first established in Chicago, June 22, 1891, and likewise started in other cities before the end of that year. At first there was some hesitancy and scepticism among the packers as to the practical application of this microscopic examination without seriously retarding the busi- ness of the firms and causing vexatious and unnecessary delays, but