FOOD POISONING. 



53 



milk is sold. The frequency with which tuberculosis is trans- 

 mitted to children through milk should justify this action. 



That a profuse diarrhoea may render the flesh of an animal 

 unfit food for man was demonstrated by the cases studied by Gart- 

 ner. In this instance the cow was observed to have a profuse 

 diarrhoea for two days before she was slaughtered. Both the raw 

 and cooked meat from this animal poisoned the persons who ate it. 

 Medical literature contains the records of many cases of meat poi- 

 soning due to the eating of the flesh of cows slaughtered while suf- 

 fering from puerperal fever. It has been found that the flesh of 

 animals dead of symptomatic anthrax may retain its infection after 

 having been preserved in a dry state for ten years. 



One of the most frequently observed forms of meat poisoning is 

 that due to the eating of decomposed sausage. Sausage poison- 

 ing, known as botulismus, is most common in parts of Germany. 

 Germans who have brought to the United States their methods of 

 preparing sausage occasionally sufter from this form of poisoning. 

 The writer had occasion two years ago to investigate six cases of 

 this kind, two of which proved fatal. The sausage meat had been 

 placed in uncooked sections of the intestines and alternately frozen 

 and thawed and then eaten raw. In this instance the meat was in- 

 fected with a highly virulent bacillus, which resembled very closely 

 the Bacterium coli. 



In England, Ballard has reported numerous epidemics of meat 

 poisoning, in most of which the meat had become infected with 

 some nonspecific, poison-producing germ. In 1894 the writer was 

 called upon to investigate cases of poisoning due to the eating of 

 pressed chicken. The chickens were killed Tuesday afternoon and 

 left hanging in a market room at ordinary temperature until 

 Wednesday forenoon, when they were drawn and carried to a res- 

 taurant and here left in a warm room until Thursday, when they 

 were cooked (not thoroughly), pressed, and served at a banquet 

 in which nearly two hundred men participated. All ate of the 

 chicken, and were more or less seriously poisoned. The meat con- 

 tained a slender bacillus, which was fatal to white rats, guinea 

 pigs, dogs, and rabbits. 



Ermengem states that since. 1867 there have been reported 112 

 epidemics of meat poisoning, in which 6,000 persons have been 

 affected. In 103 of these outbreaks the meat came from diseased 

 animals, while in only five was there any evidence that putrefactive 

 changes in the meat had taken place. My experience convinces 

 me that in this country meat poisoning frequently results from 

 putrefactive changes. 



Instances of poisoning from the eating of canned meats have 



