MEAT, Inspection of. The purpose of meat inspection is to eliminate diseased or otherwise bad meat from the general food sup ply, to see that the preparation of the meats and products passed for human consumption is cleanly; to guard against the use of harmful dyes, preservatives, chemicals or other delete rious ingredients; and to prevent the use of false or misleading names or statements on labels, in short to protect the rights and health of the consumers of meat and meat food prod ucts to the fullest extent possible. In the United States the meat inspection service is administered through the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture.
In 1890, 1891 and 1895 Congress passed leg islation empowering the Secretary of Agricul ture to take measures to ensure a wholesome quality in all meats in the export trade and to protect the home consumer against diseased or unsound meat. Under the provisions of these laws great dependence was placed on the ante mortem examination of all animals for export or for interstate commerce, but the provisions for the post-mortem examination of carcasses were inadequate. The great defect of this early legislation was that it did not make a ruling for the disposal of carcasses and animal products which upon examination had been found unfit for use as food. During the war with Spain in 1898 the prevalence of sickness among the enlisted men drew the attention of the public to the laws relating to meat inspec tion. A report was made that °embalmed beef° was being supplied the army by the great pack ing-houses. Investigation failed to establish this, however, and the public was apathetic in the matter until the publication of Sinclair's
Federal inspection is now maintained under the act of 30 June 1906, and supplementary leg islation in the Tariff Act of 3 Oct. 1913. The food animals to which the act refers are cattle, sheep, swine and goats. The slaughtering, packing, rendering and meat-preparing estab lishments to which it applies are those which sell or ship their products in whole or in part in interstate or foreign commerce. The Meat Inspection Law does not apply to those estab lishments the meats and products of which are neither sold nor shipped outside the confines of the State in which the plant is operated. A qualified exemption from inspection is granted under the law to retail dealers supplying their customers, and a similar exemption is granted in the case of meat from farm-slaughtered ani mals. The legislation of 1913 provided for the inspection of imported meats and products.
The requirements as to sanitation in the es tablishments that operate under inspection oc cupy an important place in the meat-inspection regulations. Prior to 1906 the Secretary of Agriculture was without authority to fix and enforce such requirements but when it was con ferred in the act of that year the department proceeded to enforce sanitation in all establish ments operated under Federal inspection. The first step taken was to require strict cleanliness as regards the rooms and equipment and in respect to the conduct of operations and the handling of products, and the second was to adopt rules governing plant and equipment con struction.
In new plants the use of non-absorbent materials was demanded and natural light sup planted artificial as far as possible. Improved drainage, plumbing and sanitation were de manded as also proper facilities for the con duct of inspection.