A similar inspection of the killing and packing of poultry would involve a very much higher rate of taxation, because of the fact that poultry products are packed in small establishments scattered throughout the entire country.
One reason that the meat packers wanted the United States Inspection, is because it puts out of business the little fellow to whom the Government cannot afford to grant inspection. A few of the very largest poultry packers would like to see poultry inspection for the same reason, but with the business so thoroughly scattered as to render Government inspection so expensive as to be quite impracticable, any such bill would certainly be killed in a congressional committee.
Any practical means to bring about the cleanly handling, and to prevent the consumption of diseased poultry, should certainly be encouraged. This can be done by the education of the consumer. Poultry carcasses should be marketed with head and feet attached and the entrails undrawn. By this precaution the consumer may tell whether the fowl he is buying is male or female, young or old, healthy or diseased. All cold storage poultry should be frozen and should be sold to the consumer in a frozen condition.
I am not in favor of the detailed regulation of business by law, but I do believe that the legal enforcement of these last precautions would be a good thing.
[ CHAPTER XI ]
QUALITY IN EGGS [*]
* [Much of the matter in this and the following chapter is taken from the writer's report of the egg trade of the United States, published as Circular 140 of the Bureau of Annual Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the present volume, however, I have inserted some additional matters which policy forbade that I discuss in a Federal document.]
Because of the readiness with which eggs spoil, the term "fresh" has become synonymous with the idea of desirable quality in eggs. As a matter of fact the actual age of an egg is quite subordinate to other factors which affect the quality.
An egg forty-eight hours old that has lain in a wheat shock during a warm July rain, would probably be swarming with bacteria and be absolutely unfit for food. Another egg stored eight months in a first-class cold storage room would be perfectly wholesome.