MEAT AND MEAT PACKING 



3712 



MEAT AND MEAT PACKING 



Organization of the Industry. All of the 

 great packing firms have their agents or buyers 

 in the sections in which live stock is raised. 

 Often the buyer visits farm after farm to select 

 the stock he wants, but he always buys in 

 larger lots from local dealers, to whom the 

 farmer or rancher sells. Sometimes, too, the 

 farmer ships by rail direct to a commission 

 man or broker in the packing centers, where 

 the packers' buyers again appear. In spite of 

 better transportation facilities there is a steady 

 tendency toward decentralization. Long jour- 

 neys by rail are injurious to the live stock; the 

 animals lose in weight, even on short journeys, 

 and there is evidence that the meat deteriorates. 

 For these reasons, as well as for economy in 

 shipping, the packers have gradually moved 

 ijieir plants nearer the regions in which cattle 

 are raised and fed for the market. This is the 

 meaning of the growth of the meat-packing 

 industry in Fort Worth, Omaha, Moose Jaw 

 and other cities far from Chicago, which latter 

 city is still, however, far in the lead. 



Processes. The slaughtering and dressing of 

 cattle and other animals was formerly a slow 

 hand process; now every possible labor-saving 

 machine or device is employed. It takes less 

 than forty-five minutes to kill and dress a 

 steer, and less than eight minutes to kill and 

 dress a hog. This rapidity is made possible 

 not only by machinery but by minute division 

 of labor. As every workman does only one 

 thing, he becomes very skilful. 



When the animals reach a packing center 

 they are at once unloaded at the stockyards. 

 Cattle are usually given a day's rest before 

 being slaughtered, but it is not unusual to kill 

 hogs within a few minutes after they arrive. 

 With much shouting and squealing a trainload 

 of hogs will be driven up inclined viaducts to 

 the top of the slaughtering building. There 

 they are swung by their hind legs on a trolley 

 which passes the "sticker," whose business it is 

 to kill the hog. Next the carcass is passed 

 through scalding vats, and then through an 

 automatic scraper, which removes almost all 

 the bristles ; the few remaining are later scraped 

 off by hand. Scalded and scraped, the carcass 

 is carried along, head downward, to the men 

 who slit and disembowel it, behead it, and 

 finally wash and trim it. The carcass is then 

 ready for the cooler. A single corps of men 

 can kill and dress twenty hogs a minute. 



By the use of ice, ammonia or brine (see 

 COLD STORAGE), the cooling room or cooler is 

 kept at a temperature just above freezing, and 



here the meat is stored until the animal heat 

 has entirely left it. For pork this means about 

 three days, after which the meat is ready for 

 the various finishing processes. Beef, if it is 

 to be sold as fresh meat, is usually kept in a 

 cooler for a week or ten days, and the best cuts 

 of beef are kept longer, even three weeks. This 

 is done not to give the meat time to cool, but 

 to ripen it. Ripening, strictly speaking, is the 

 first stage of decomposition, when the fibers 

 begin to break and soften and the meat be- 

 comes tender. Beef which is to be shipped 

 a considerable distance is usually loaded into 

 cars after three days of ripening, because it can 

 be kept as cold in the refrigerator car as in the 

 packing house. So nearly perfect are these 

 refrigerators that fresh meat shipped from the 

 South American port of Buenos Aires, from 

 Chicago or from Fort Worth will reach its 

 destination at Liverpool, Hamburg, Vladivos- 

 tok, or any other distant point, in first-class con- 

 dition. 



Products and By-Products. The different 

 preparations of beef, mutton, lamb and pork 

 may be conveniently divided into fresh meats, 

 smoked meats, lard and tallow, and such special 

 preparations as canned meats, dried beef and 

 sausages. The variety of pork products is much 

 greater than of other meats. Only ten per cent 

 of the pork is sold as fresh meat, the remainder 

 being made into ham, bacon, sausage, etc. 

 Nearly all beef and mutton are sold as fresh 

 meat (for the cuts of meat, see articles else- 

 where on BEEF, PORK, HAM, etc.). 



By-Products. Probably in no other industry 

 is there less waste than in meat packing. There 

 is a familiar saying that "the packers use 

 every part of the hog except the squeal." 

 There is also very little waste in the slaughter- 

 ing of cattle and sheep. The hides are made 

 into leather; the hoofs, bones and other parts 

 not edible are made into glue, soap and oils; 

 the intestines are used as skins for sausages; 

 the blood and offal are dried and sold as fer- 

 tilizer; the horns and hoofs are made into 

 combs, buttons and handles for knives; the 

 hair of cattle, the bristles of hogs and the wool 

 of sheep are valuable for many purposes. The 

 total value of all by-products in the United 

 States alone is about $300,000,000, or twenty 

 per cent of the total production of the industry. 



The story of ho\v these by-products came to 

 be utilized is the story of the success of the 

 meat-packing industry. Competition becoming 

 continually keener made a continuance of the 

 business a question of reducing waste in pre- 



