ADMINISTRATION OF IMPORTANT REGULATORY LAWS 7/ 



handling of meats and meat food products. District lab- 

 oratories are maintained at convenient points for the mak- 

 ing of chemical analyses or other technical examinations. It 

 is the duty of the lay inspectors to see that the requirements 

 of the regulations as to sanitation are observed. 



The meat inspection act provides that when meat or meat 

 products which have been inspected and passed are packed, 

 the establishment shall cause a label to be affixed to the con- 

 tainer or covering stating that the contents have been in- 

 spected and passed. The act also provides that no meat or 

 meat product shall be sold, offered for sale, or shipped in 

 interstate commerce under any false or deceptive name. 

 The regulations define at length what may or may not ap- 

 pear upon any label. Copies of all labels intended for use 

 in plants under inspection must be approved in advance. 



The penalties prescribed for violation of the meat-inspec- 

 tion act are applicable both to persons seUing or offering for 

 sale goods which have been prepared in violation of the law, 

 and to persons or companies accepting such goods for trans- 

 portation in interstate or foreign commerce. Unusually 

 severe penalties are prescribed for the oft'er or acceptance of 

 any bribe with the intent to influence any inspector or other 

 ofificer in the performance of his duty. 



Because of the general approval of the law and the co- 

 operation of those engaged in the industry to which it re- 

 lates, there are very few violations upon which action must 

 be taken — less in fact than under any other of the important 

 regulatory laws administered by the Department of Agri- 

 culture.'* 



Approximately twenty-six hundred persons are directly 

 engaged in the federal inspection of meats and meat products, 

 distributed in approximately eight hundred and fifty estab- 

 lishments. All are under the general direction of the Chief 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry. They are divided into 

 two general classes — professional and non-professional. 



» Annual Reports of tlic Solicitor of tlio l)i'i)artnicnt of Agricul- 

 ture. 



