The Chilling Room.
—Notably and most essential was the development of a chilling department in which the slaughtered animal could be properly chilled. This is now a matter of such common occurrence that but little consideration is given the subject. However, in the days when ice was used, and before the introduction of mechanical refrigeration it was a matter of large consequence.
Mechanical Refrigeration.
—Mechanical refrigeration, and this alone, has made it possible to properly cool meats for shipment to remote points as fresh meats, or to properly prepare them for curing, and to preserve them after curing beyond a comparatively limited time. Mechanical refrigeration made possible the equipping of ships for the transportation of meats under refrigeration from any point to any market on the globe.
Freezing Meats.
—The freezing of meats such as beef and poultry, and holding them to a desirable season has rapidly become an important factor in packing house work. Not only beef, poultry, butter and other food products are accumulated, but pork cuts, such as hams, shoulders, bellies, etc., are frozen and carried indefinitely or until it appears desirable to thaw and cure them.
Overseas Shipments.
—A contributing feature to the development of the packing house business, was the overseas shipment of meats. In the early part of the decade 1900-1910 a very large business in fresh beef was conducted between the United States and England. At the outset it was considered an impossibility, but by the most careful and detailed attention and the utilization of modern methods, it was found possible to kill cattle or sheep in the hottest months of the year at interior points in the United States, ship the meats in refrigerator cars to the seaboard, transfer into refrigerated rooms on the steamers and thence to England, the meat being sometimes four or five weeks en route from the abattoir where the animal was killed, to the place where the meat finally reached the consumer. Even though the English authorities gave it the most critical examination, it was found in proper state for consumption. In the same manner vast quantities of meat is finding its way from South America to the European markets, most of it shipped “chilled,” not frozen. For a time the United States furnished the largest part of the fresh meat consumed in England. It is true that for many years we have supplied foreign markets with cured and canned meats, but the fresh meat trade in England is a business developed within a comparatively few years and it grew to magnitude. However, owing to our growth, increasing home demands, and the changed economic conditions, this business dwindled in the last decade so that on beef it was practically gone, except that during the European war owing to prevailing conditions, it was revived for a time at least. The pre-eminence of the United States pork products, however, is everywhere recognized and until new corn producing lands are developed and utilized, the corn and the pig supply for the world will be that part of the United States west of the Alleghany mountains and east of the Rocky mountains.
CHAPTER II.
LOCATION AND CONSTRUCTION.
Location — Water Supply — Sewage — Odors and Prevailing Winds — Cleanliness — Designs and Errors — Character of Business — Requirements — Principles of Design.