MARKETING POULTRY CARCASSES 
nothing very striking has been learned. From what has been 
published, the writer is of the opinion that the somewhat 
mysterious changes that were observed in the cold storage 
poultry were mostly a matter of drying out of the carcass. 
Poultry Inspection. 
The enthusiastic members of the medical profession, and 
others whose knowledge of practical affairs is somewhat lim- 
ited, occasionally come forth with the idea of an inspection of 
poultry carcasses similar to the Federal inspection of the 
heavier meats. 
The reasons that are supposed to warrant the Federal meat 
inspection are precaution against disease and the idea of 
enforcing a cleanliness in the handling of food behind the con- 
sumer’s back, which he would insist upon were he the pre- 
parer of his own food products. 
No doubt there is well established evidence that some dis- 
eases, such as the dread trichinosis, are acquired by the con- 
sumption of diseased meat. As far as it is at present known 
there are no diseases acquired from the consumption of dis- 
eased poultry flesh, but, as we do not know as much about the 
bacteria that infests poultry as we do of that of larger animals, 
there is no positive proof that such transmission of disease 
could not occur. Thorough cooking kills all disease germs, 
and poultry is seldom, if ever, eaten without such prepara- 
tion. 
The idea of protecting people from uncleanly methods of 
handling their foods, concerning which they cannot them- 
selves know, is somewhat of a sentimental proposition. In 
practice it amounts to nothing, save as the popular conception 
of this protection increases the demand for the product which 
is marked “U. S. Inspected and Passed.” 
It may be interesting to some of the reformers of 1906 to 
know that the meat inspection bill then forced upon Congress 
by a clamoring public was desired by the packers themselves. 
Because Congress would not listen to the packers, and the 
Department of Agriculture, the Chief Executive very kindly 
indulged in a little conversation with a few reporters, the 
results of which gave Congress the needed inspiration. 
It cost the Government three million dollars to tell the 
people that their meats are packed in a cleanly manner. If 
the people want this, it is all well and good. The tax it places 
upon the price of meat is less than half of one per cent. 
A similar inspection of the killing and packing of poultry 
would involve a very much higher rate of taxation, because of 
the fact that poultry products are packed in small establish- 
ments scattered throughout the entire country. 
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