Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; translated by E. Vernon Wilcox. With an introduction by John R. Mohler.

Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; translated by E. Vernon Wilcox. With an introduction by John R. Mohler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    liis colleagues on the bench to this particular carcass. By this system of examination a thoroughly satisfactory and efficient in- spection is obtained and readily accounts for the large number of hog carcasses per hour which it is possible to successfully examine in this country. Some inexperienced persons have thought this must be a superficial inspection, their misgivings being due merely to the fact that one or two inspectors could examine such a large number of carcasses per hour ; but such doubts have been quickly dispelled in those who have been sufficiently ’nterested to make personal observations. Unlike the old method of individual slaughter in vogue in many foreign abattoirs, where the inspector must go to each animal which is slaughtei’ed, bled, eviscerated and dressed by one or two butchers, the method of handling the carcasses in this country is according to the combination or division of labor system, and unfamiliarity with these methods may probably account for the incorrect views held by some regarding this inspection. Their style of slaughter is not conducive to the performance of such a vast amount of work as in this country, nor is their inspection force so well organized as in the United States. Thus at Mannheim, where one of the finest abattoirs in Germany exists, the method of killing a steer by the percussion mask requires more time than would be con- sumed in killing eight similar animals in one of our large abattoirs, and the number of cattle slaughtered there during the entire year of 1901 was 16,338, an amount which one of the larger abattoirs in this country will have to its credit within two weeks. In the German abattoir the inspector usually has his own laboratory and much of his time is occupied in preparing tissues and in the microscopical diagnosis of lesions upon which he may desire infor- mation. In the United States the time of the inspector is wholly occupied by making gross examinations and thereby he is enabled to inspect a much larger number of carcasses than if it was neces- sary for him to spend a portion of his time over microscopical or bacteriological study of suspected tissues. In case such an exami- nation is necessary, the carcass is at once tagged and placed in the retaining room, specimens of the organs and affected tissues are expressed to the Chief of the Bureau for investigation, and if an exceptional case, the disposition of the carcass may be determined on obtaining the diagnosis. Lesions concerning which a confirma- tion of diagnosis is desired, or other information regarding their nature is requested, are likewise sent to Washington for exami- nation.