CHAPTER III 



PACKING HOUSE BY-PRODUCTS FROM CATTLE 



When slaughtered, the average steer yields over 40 per cent of 

 offal. In the early days of the packing industry the only by-products 

 of a beef animal which received attention from packers were hide, 

 tallow, and tongue. The remainder of the offal was either thrown 

 away or sold for almost nothing. In some instances, packers even paid 

 for the carting away of offal. In a short time glue works, fertilizer 

 works, soap factories, oil and tallow factories sprang up in the vicinity 

 of the packing plants and grew to be large industries. Soon the 



Fig. 16. — How by-products reduce dressed beef prices. 



packing plants went into the soap business for themselves, then into 

 the glue business, the fertilizer business, and so on, until today packing 

 house by-products are numbered by the score from what was formerly 

 mere waste. The modern packing house is living and depending for 

 profits on what the packing industry of early times was throwing 

 away. The utilization of by-products is one of the chief reasons why 

 packers are able to compete so successfully with the local butchers of 

 the country. Were it not for this conversion of waste material into 

 saleable form, the wholesale price of beef would be considerably higher 

 than under existing conditions. This is clearly illustrated by the ac- 

 companying graph. 



C3 



