In the inspection of viscera, the several or gans as they are removed from the carcass are placed before the inspector, on a table, in pans or other suitable metal receptacles for examina tion. Facilities for promptly cleansing such equipment in the event of contamination through the contact of diseased viscera are at hand. The various organs and parts are care fully viewed and certain of them cut into while others are subjected to manual as well as visual examination.
The carcass inspection embraces a careful viewing of all surfaces and parts of the carcass, with particular attention given to the condition of the serous membranes of the thoracic and abdominal cavities. • Further, certain parts which more frequently than others are seats of disease are subjected to a manual as well as a visual examination. The head, viscera and car cass examinations together constitute the regu lar post-mortem inspection. The animals found to be free from disease or any doubtful condi tion are marked °Inspected and Passed' while those in which any disease or doubtful condi tion is found are retained for the final inspec tion, which takes place in a special room, where another inspector with special facilities at his command subjects them to a searching exami nation. Since the animals held for final inspec tion are tagged or retained for cause, only veterinary inspectors who have become skilled through training and experience in the work are detailed to make such examinations and to determine the final dispositions.
As soon as the several examinations have been made and the dispositions determined, there remain two important acts to complete the post-mortem inspection. They are the marking of each carcass to show plainly to every beholder the disposition made of it and to see that those carcasses and parts which are condemned are disposed of as required by the regulations to prevent the sale or use of the same as human food. In regard to the dis posal of condemned articles it is required that every condemned carcass, part of carcass, meat or product be plainly marked to show that it is condemned, and that parts or products too small to be so marked be placed in appropri ately marked containers. All condemned arti des remain in the custody of an inspector from the time they are condemned until properly dis posed of and if not disposed of on the day they are condemned they are locked in the °U. S. compartments, the locks of which are selected and supplied by the de partment and the keys of which remain in the custody of the inspector. The required de struction or denaturing of the condemned arti des must be done in the presence of an inspec tor, who renders a report on the transaction. The usual method is to convert condemned parts into grease and fertilizer by rendering in a steam-pressure tank.
Inspection of Because meat or other edible portion of an animal which was entirely sound at the time of slaughter may become unsound or contaminated through im proper care or handling, and because healthful products may be made unwholesome through adulteration or the addition of deleterious in gredients, and for the purpose of protecting the purchaser against false and misleading labels, a proper measure of control of the various operations of processing, preparing and label ing meats and products becomes necessary and such control is exercised by the Federal Inspec tion Service. All meats and products, there fore, notwithstanding that they were previously inspected and passed, are reinspected as often as may be necessary to ascertain whether they remain sound and wholesome. The materials
added to products are examined to see that the regulations relating to prohibited ingredients are absorbed and that the requirements as to correctness of labeling are complied with. Samples of the different kinds of products are taken and referred to the meat inspection laboratories for chemical or other technical examination. If upon reinspection of an arti cle it is found to have become unfit for food from any cause, the original inspection mark or label thereon is removed or defaced and the article condemned.
Imported Meats and Meat Food Products. — The regulations governing the admission of meat and meat food products from foreign countries require that every importation shall be accompanied by a certificate signed by an official of the national government of the coun try of origin; stating that the animals from which the meat or meat food product was de rived received an ante-mortem and a post mortem veterinary inspection, and that at the time of slaughter the meats and products were sound, healthful, wholesome and otherwise fit for human food. Further, that they had not been treated with and contain no ingredient prohibited by the regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture. Meat or meat food product not accompanied by the required certificate is refused entry, and that from a country which does not maintain a sys tem of meat inspection satisfactory to the Sec retary of Agriculture is also refused.
Upon arrival every consignment of im ported meat or product is checked with the for eign inspection certificate and is subjected to a thorough physical examination, and in most cases samples thereof undergo a laboratory ex amination. The meat or product is then ad mitted, refused entry or condemned according to the findings.
Statistics.— The Federal system of meat in spection reaches about 60 per cent of the ani mals slaughtered in the United States and all imported meats. This leaves approximately 40 per cent of the supply outside of Federal control. Much of the latter, it is known, receives no adequate inspection. The number of establishments at which inspection is regularly maintained varies somewhat ,• however, for several years it has approximated 850. The total of cattle, sheep, swine and goats given both the ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections is in excess of an average of 58, 500,000 per year. The average number of whole carcasses of such animals condemned during that period was more than 262,000 per year, while the number of parts of carcasses con demned per year was very much greater. The records of the inspection and reinspectiens of meats and products subsequent to the slaughter inspection show totals running into billions of pounds annually, while the amount condemned on reinspection on account of having become tainted, rancid or otherwise unfit for human food approximates 18,000,000 pounds per year. In 1915 Congress appropriated $3,375,000 for meat inspection. Thus the cost was less than six cents for each of the 58,500,000 animals slaughtered. Consult Ditewig, George, The Meat-Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture' (in the (Yearbook for 1916' of the Department, Washington 1917).