Foods and Their Adulteration / Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and Regulations

by Harvey Washington Wiley

[11] In fat extract.

[12] In residue and fat extract, calculated from averages of like cuts.

[13] Calculated from average of like cuts.

The data for the entire dressed animal after the removal of the head, hoofs, lard, and kidneys are shown in [Table F].

General Conclusions.

—The composition of the flesh of pigs has been given in detail for two reasons. First, because the data relative to this point are much more complete than those of any other flesh product and were obtained in a more systematic way. In the second place, pork is one of the chief meat products of the United States,—the industry being one of great magnitude, and pork being a common article of diet among all classes of people. Further than this, the data indicate the general character of fresh meat, and illustrate as well as that of any of the typical animals the nutritive value and properties of flesh. The study of pork, therefore, may be regarded as a typical study of meat products. It is quite as important that all people should be informed respecting the nature of the wholesome meat which they consume and its value as a diet as it is that they should be certain these meats be procured from healthy animals and in a sanitary way. These two classes of knowledge together give a complete scheme of information which the consumers in this and other countries are entitled to have.

Pork, by many hygienists, is regarded as the least desirable of meat products, and it is not the purpose here to combat that idea. Granting, however, for the sake of argument, that pork is a less desirable meat food than those derived from cattle or sheep, that is all the more reason for knowing particularly everything connected with it. Modern investigations have appeared to establish the fact that swine are less subject to those forms of disease, with the exception of trichinosis, which tend to infect the meat and make it unfit for consumption than cattle or sheep. The diseases to which swine are usually subject act quickly, as a rule, and are speedily fatal, as in the case of hog cholera, whereas the diseases most to be feared in cattle and sheep are those of slow activity and those of a nature which is often not revealed until slaughter, namely, tubercular diseases. In so far, therefore, as infection from disease is concerned, previous to slaughter, it appears that the flesh of swine is less objectionable and less open to suspicion than that of cattle or sheep. One of the chief objections to the use of pork in any form, whether fresh or cured, has been based upon the unsanitary habits of the animals themselves. With the modern methods of cleanliness and care, however, the conditions under which the pigs grow and fatten are, or should be, quite as sanitary as those surrounding cattle and sheep. The consumer, of course, has the right to insist upon such sanitary conditions and these, under present laws or those which are to be enacted, will doubtless be supplied. It is believed that in this country sanitary environments and a sanitary method of feeding will develop types of animals superior to those grown in other countries, where the population is denser and where the facilities for the proper growth and fattening of the animal are less abundant. It is hoped that the general diffusion of knowledge respecting all food products among our people will aid greatly in securing these very desirable results.

PRESERVED MEATS.

Meats which cannot be eaten at the time of or soon after slaughter are necessarily preserved until the time of consumption. It is difficult to draw a definite line between a preserved and a fresh meat. A general distinction is the following: Fresh meat is meat which is prepared for consumption without the use of any condiment or preservative, without sterilization, and with none of the artificial methods of keeping, except cleanliness and a low temperature.

The above definition, as will be seen, covers meat placed in cold storage. A special distinction, however, must be made in this case between meat placed in cold storage for the purpose of transportation only and meat placed in cold storage to be kept for an indefinite time. Where meats are prepared for consumption by slaughter and appropriate dressing and shipped long distances to the consumer the cold storage car, ship, and warehouse become a necessity. There is some reasonable limit for keeping such products, beyond which they should be differentiated from fresh meats. Whenever meats are kept in cold storage so long as to afford the opportunity for the growth of a mould, or undergo other changes of a chemical or physical character which distinguish them from the fresh products, they should be placed in a different class. Fresh meats may, therefore, be divided as follows: