Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; authorized translation by Earley Vernon Wilcox : with an introduction by John R. Mohler.

Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; authorized translation by Earley 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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    those which pass through the stock3'ards that are under Govern- ment supervision. These inspections are highly important and a valuable safeguard to the health of the meat consumer, as there are certain diseases and conditions not attended by any macroscopic lesions in the carcass, albeit they are nocuous and repugnant. Direct proof of this is found in the literature of meat poisoning, the great majority of which cases could be directly traced to eating the meat of cattle slaughtered in emergency without any noticeable changes being observed in the tissues on post-mortem examination. The interests of the live stock industry also are protected by this examination, since none but healthy animals which have not been exposed to any disease are permitted to be shipped from stockyards to the farm as breeders and feeders or to abattoirs of other cities not , having federal inspection. The rigorous character of this inspection before slaughter is indicated by the fact that ante-mortem con- demnations average about twice as many as the jwst-mortem. In the larger packing centers this inspection is done in the yards, on the docks, though principally at the scales, where all diseased and suspected animals are tagged. A brief description of their condition is recorded and they are then held for final disposition on post- mortem examination, with the exception of those animals that have been condemned for advanced pregnancy or recent parturition. These animals may be held until they have fully recovered from the parturient state (ten days) and then slaughtered, or in case they are not affected with or have not been exposed to any infectious disease they may be sold for stock purposes. Animals not inspected iu the yards are subjected to an exami- nation in the pens of the packing houses, and those condemned are similai'ly disposed of as above with the permission and under the supervision of the inspector. Those that have been condemned on ante-mortem examination which fail on post-mortem to show sufficient lesions to warrant con- demnation are passed for food, while all carcasses not fit for con- sumption are tanked. However, there are a number of diseases in which the determination of the healthfnlness of the nieat must depend entirely on the post-mortem examination, and many animals are condemned at this stage that have passed ante-mortem inspec- tion. Thus the importance of these two associated methods of inspection is exemplified. The Bureau regulations which were devised to control the ante and post mortem inspection of animals and which have been subsequently supplemented as the needs of the service demanded, are clearly defined, thorough and most rigid