COMPARATIVE RATE OF DECOMPOSITION IN MARKET POULTRY. 7 



gizzard, as well as the excess body fat, were put back into the body 

 cavity. The shanks and feet were removed and the hocks were 

 thrust through the opening in the abdomen and the vent. 



" Wire" drawing consists in pulling out a loop of intestine by insert- 

 ing the finger through the vent; cutting the loop, and drawing out 

 the gut by careful traction until it breaks at the gizzard. The vent 

 of a bird so drawn presents a normal appearance; the only indication 

 of drawing is the collapsed abdomen. 



The "Boston" drawing is a modification of the "wire" in that a 

 circular incision is made around the vent and the intestines pulled 

 through until rupture occurs at the gizzard. The undrawn fowls 

 were shipped with heads and feet on, and had no incisions except for 

 bleeding and braining. 



Dressing by either the "Boston" or the "wire" fashion is sure to 

 contaminate the body cavity with intestinal contents to some extent. 

 This contamination may be slight or extensive, depending upon when 

 and where the rupture occurs. The irregularity in the results is a 

 distinct disadvantage. The full drawn birds are seriously contami- 

 nated by the process of drawing unless that be conducted according 

 to the methods developed in the bacteriological laboratory for the 

 preservation of sterility. Even with those methods it has not been 

 found possible to keep the body cavity absolutely free from contami- 

 nation during transportation and marketing, though as shown by 

 Boos a it can be done under laboratory conditions. It has not, as yet, 

 been possible to adapt such methods, requiring scientific training and 

 appliances, to the modern packing house and its corps of employees. 



The feet of the fowls were scrubbed and the heads were wiped free 

 from blood and wrapped in parchment paper. The evisceration of 

 the full drawn birds was conducted with sufficient care to render 

 washing unnecessary, so far as visual inspection could determine. 

 Water would merely furnish another source of bacterial contamina- 

 tion, whereas the effort was to eliminate as many of these as was 

 commercially possible. 



CHILLING, PACKING, AND TRANSPORTATION. 



Chilling was begun immediately after dressing and was done in a 

 room artificially cooled, in which the temperature varied between 27 

 and 41 F., with an average of 34 F. After chilling, which required from 

 twenty-four to forty-eight hours, the birds were wrapped and boxed, 

 and, if the car lot had been collected and was ready for shipment, the 

 experimental packages, accompanied by a thermograph, went imme- 

 diately into the car. If, as was more commonly the case, the requisite 

 number of pounds was not ready the boxes were "staggered" on the 



a Chemical examination of drawn and undrawn poultry kept in cold storage. Thirty-ninth Ann. Kept., 

 Mass. State Board of Health, 1907. 



