Skin Diseases. Section 16.—“Carcasses of animals affected with mange or scab, in advanced stages, or extension of the inflammation of the flesh, shall be condemned. When the disease is slight, the carcass may be passed.”
Section 21.—“Hogs affected with urticaria (diamond skin disease) tinea tonsurans, demodex folliculorum, or erythema, may be passed, after detaching and condemning the skin, if the carcass is otherwise fit for food!”
Caseous Lymphadenitis. Section 12.—“When the lesions of caseous lymphadenitis are limited to the superficial lymphatic glands, or to a few nodules in an organ, involving also the adjacent lymphatic glands (N.B.), and the carcass is well nourished, the meat may be passed, after the affected parts are removed and condemned.”
Tapeworm Cysts.—“Carcasses of animals slightly affected with tapeworm cysts may be rendered into lard or tallow, but extensively affected carcasses shall be condemned” (p. 15).
Section 17. Par. 3.—“Carcasses or parts of carcasses found infected with hydatid cyst (echinococcus) may be passed after condemnation of the infected part or organ.”
Similar quotations could be supplied ad libitum; but the above will doubtless suffice for our purposes. From them we see that—all statements to the contrary notwithstanding—a very great deal of diseased meat does get into the market—so much, in fact, that it becomes highly probable that a large percentage of it is diseased; and that we probably run more chance of buying diseased meat than we do of obtaining meat clean and free from infection.
These facts and figures relate only to the meat slaughtered under Federal Inspection, it must be remembered; and represent the best possible condition in which our meat is obtained. This meat is passed by expert Government Inspectors; the packing houses are considered the best and the cleanest in the country, etc. What, then, of the meat killed by local butchers, on farms, and without Federal Inspection altogether? The reader may think that there are but few cattle and hogs killed in this way; and that their flesh is not disposed of upon the public market to any extent. If he is of this opinion, he is sadly mistaken, as the following figures will show. I take them from Dr A. M. Farrington’s Report to the Bureau of Animal Industry, which is published as Circular No. 154, under the supervision of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. As we have seen that the tendency of the Bureau is to under rather than over-estimate the facts in the case, the following statements will appear all the more impressive. The figures given below relate to the year 1907, but much the same conditions prevail to-day, and but little has been done to check the conditions depicted. The following is the result of a careful statistical inquiry, in tabulated form:—
| ITEM | CATTLE | SHEEP | SWINE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slaughtered under Federal Inspection | 7,633,365 | 10,252,070 | 32,885,377 |
| Estimated Farm Slaughter | 1,500,000 | 1,000,000 | 16,500,000 |
| Slaughtered by Butchers without Federal Inspection | 4,972,052 | 7,793,133 | 10,316,300 |
It will be seen from the foregoing that practically 5,000,000 cattle, nearly 8,000,000 sheep, and over 10,000,000 hogs were slaughtered by butchers in 1907 without Federal Inspection, to which may be added about 3,000,000 calves. All these 26,000,000 animals were consumed by the people of the United States, and the responsibility of inspecting them rested wholly upon the State and local authorities, since they are beyond the reach of the Federal Inspectors.