MEAT AND MEAT PACKING 



3711 



MEAT AND MEAT PACKING 



smoked, salted, dried or canned. The flesh of 

 different animals varies greatly in the amount 

 of fat and proteins contained. Nearly all the 

 protein and ninety-five per cent of the fat in 

 animal food are digested ; in vegetable food the 

 amount is less. The length of time taken in 

 the process varies according to the toughness 

 and composition of the meat; pork, for in- 

 stance, is digested very slowly. But in actual 

 nutritive value, the cheaper cuts are as rich as 

 the more tender. 



Meat should be immediately taken from the 

 paper wrapping on delivery, washed well with 



a cloth wrung out of cold water and placed. in 

 a refrigerator. It is cooked in various ways, to 

 loosen and soften the tissues, to help digestion 

 by making it appetizing, and to kill, bacteria 

 which may be present. Some kinds of meat 

 must be well-cooked to be healthful. 



The number of calories, or heat-making units, 

 to each pound, in the different meats and com- 

 mon articles of food of an ordinary meal, are 

 as follows, arranged in order of high calories: 

 Mutton, 1695; pork, 1580; beef, 1040; veal, 690; 

 bass, 465; beans, 1605; bread, 1215; eggs, 765; 

 potatoes, 385, and milk, 325. 



Meat Packing 



The slaughtering of cattle, sheep and hogs, 

 and the preparation of their carcasses for use 

 as food is one of the greatest of the world's 

 industries. The terms meat packing and pack- 

 ing industry are somewhat misleading, for the 

 greater part of the products of the industry is 

 fresh meat, which has not, strictly speaking, 

 been packed in any way. The term packing 

 was first applied to the slaughtering of hogs 

 and the preparation of their meat for the mar- 

 ket, less than ten per cent of the meat being 

 sold as fresh pork. In time, however, meat 

 packing became a general term covering all the 

 operations of preparing meat for the market, in 

 whatever form. 



Development of the Industry. The packing 

 industry in America, as distinguished from 

 slaughtering for household consumption, seems 

 to have originated in New England during the 

 seventeenth century, when large quantities of 

 pork were exported in barrels to Europe. The 

 industry spread slowly, and the first packing- 

 house west of the Appalachian Mountains was 

 not established until 1818, at Cincinnati. That 

 city became, and for many years remained, the 

 great packing center, but it was later eclipsed 

 by Chicago, which still leads. Other cities 

 which have become important in this industry 

 are Omaha, Kansas City, Saint Joseph (Mo.), 

 Sioux City, Saint Paul, Saint Louis, Fort Worth 

 and Indianapolis. In the East, New York City, 

 Buffalo and Boston lead, most of their meat 

 products being consumed in the East or ex- 

 ported to Europe. In Canada the centers of 

 the industry are Toronto, Winnipeg, Moose 

 Jaw, Calgary and Edmonton. 



Present Importance of the Industry. The 

 slaughtering and meat-packing industry, as 

 usually defined, includes extensive private and 

 municipally-owned establishments, but does not 



include retail butchers, many of whom still buy 

 live cattle and do their own slaughtering. Even 

 when thus limited it is the greatest single in- 

 dustry in the United States. The 1,600 or 

 more establishments have a total annual output 

 'valued at about $1,500,000,000, approximately 

 seven per cent of the total manufactures for 



so 100 



KANSAS 



NEW YORK . 

 NEBRASKA... 



MISSOURI 



IOWA 

 PENNSYLVANIA.. 



OHIO 



INDIANA 



MASSACHUSETTS 



TEXAS 



NEW JERSEY___U- 



CALIFORNIA... 



WISCONSIN. L 



MINNESOTA.... 



WASHINGTON..!. 



MAR/LAND . 



MICHIGAN.. 



200250300350400. 



" Toial Value 1915 

 Meat -Pack ing Products 

 Unfted States 



Figures represent millions of dollars. 



the country. The plants have over 100,000 

 employees and a total invested capital of $1,- 

 400,000,000. About one-third of the world's 

 supply of meat is slaughtered and packed in 

 the United States. The figures vary from year 

 to year, but the average kill in round numbers 

 is over 12,000,000 cattle, 6,000,000 calves, 14,- 

 000,000 sheep and lambs and 50,000,000 hogs. 

 These figures include not only the output of 

 the commercial packers, but also the animals 

 slaughtered privately or locally for domestic 

 use. In Canada the industry ranks fourth 

 among the Dominion's activities, with an aver- 

 age annual product of $45,000,000. 



