BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTKY. 201 



Secretary of Agriculture at the suggestion of President Roosevelt to 

 consider and make recommendations with regard to certain features 

 of the meat inspection, and who stated as their conclusion that " if 

 there be any general error in the regulation, this is in favor of the 

 public rather than in favor of the butchers and packers." 



With regard to the question now under discussion the commission 

 said: 



The commission would invite attention to a very widespread popular miscon- 

 ception as to the significance of the word " diseased " in connection with meat 

 inspection. To the popular mind the idea of eating " diseased " animals is ab- 

 horrent. From the standpoint of meat inspection, however, the term " diseased " 

 must be used in a sense not entirely in harmony with the popular conception of 

 this word. 



The commission could easily undertake to show that not any single animal 

 used for food in any part of the world would, upon microscopic study, be shown 

 to be absolutely free from all infection or lesion if said animal were presented 

 to it for examination. Some persons might assert that in all of these infections 

 and conditions the meat of the animals should be considered "diseased." Such 

 Interpretation is not, however, justified from a standpoint of meat inspection. 

 A light sarcosporidiasis," in cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, for instance, would 

 not justify the condemnation of a carcass, for there is no proof that such a 

 condition depreciates, in even the remotest degree, the value of the meat or that 

 this infection is transmissible to man. Likewise, there may be a strictly local- 

 ized tuberculosis, consisting, for instance, of an isolated tuberculous nodule in 

 the lungs, in the liver, or in some other portion of the body. Such nodule would 

 make the particular point infected " diseased " from the standpoint of meat 

 inspection ; in the opinion of some members of the laity, such nodule would also 

 make the entire meat of the animal " diseased " and call for the condemnation 

 of the entire carcass; from the standpoint of meat inspection, the carcass in 

 general would not be " diseased," and there would be no justification in con- 

 demning it. 



The veterinary inspector, in judging whether a carcass is " diseased," must 

 do so upon the general principles of pathology in its relation to the public health, 

 and not upon any preconceived, exaggerated, or sentimental idea. 



The commission would suggest that the cooperation of the public is most 

 valuable in aiding in the suppression of frauds in the meat trade, but that it 

 would be well for the public to have confidence in the ability of the veterinary 

 inspectors to pass judgment upon the purely technical side of the questions in- 

 volved, since such judgment can be of value only when expressed by persons 

 especially trained for this purpose. 



Illustrative of the precautions taken by the Department of Agriculture to 

 safeguard the public health, it is the opinion of the commission that the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, acting under the existing regulations, would necessarily 

 condemn certain meats which would be allowed, either with or without restric- 

 tions, according to circumstances, upon the markets of Germany, France, Eng- 

 land, and other countries. 



It is only when the disease is slight and localized or circumscribed 

 that the unaffected portions of the cnrcass are passed for food. "WTien- 

 ever the disease is generalized or disseminated throughout the system, 

 or is of such character or extent as to affect the wholesomeness or 

 the meat, the entire carcass is condemned — and the consumer is given 

 the benefit of every doubt. Careful experiments carried out by the 

 Bureau and by scientists elsewhere have shown that the germs of 

 tuberculosis are not carried in the blood circulation and distributed 

 throughout the system until the disease has reached a very advanced 

 stage. It is therefore considered perfectly safe, when the infection is 

 clearly limited to a certain gland or group of glands or an organ, to 

 remove these parts and pass the health}^ parts which have not 



" One of the most common infections of fond animals, especially of hogs. It 

 Is due to the presence of a minute parasitic protozoon in the muscles. 



