CHAPTER 1 MEAT INSPECTION

 

Meat supply today is the safest ever.However, the consumer has little if any control over either the source or quality of his meat. People must operate on faith.MPIS tries quite hard to uphold the consumer expectations so that the INSPECTION LEGEND is equated with quality.

1.1  INSPECTION LEGEND

The inspection legend is the stamp placed on U.S.D.A. inspected meat. It that:

• 1. Meat and/or meat food products are derived from healthy animals.
• 2. Diseased animals are removed from retail trade.
• 3. Meat and meat food products have been handled in a clean manner and is not contaminated.
• 4. Meat is truthfully labeled.
• 5. There are no adulteration or harmful drugs in meat.

Meat and Poultry Inspection Service makes every effort to utilize known technology to carry out these expectations. They:

• 1. Eliminate diseased animals and/or meat from them from food channels.
• 2. Slaughter only healthy live animals.
• 3. Eliminate meat that would be objectionable or undesirable to the consumer.
• 4. Prevent food borne infections and intoxications through rigid sanitation controls.
• 5. Prevent adulterations and misrepresentations through proper label control.

This responsibility for implementation and regulating meat inspection in the U.S. is, according to law, and by right of best qualification, that of the veterinarian. The program veterinarian at every level has the responsibility and primary professional obligation to assure the consumer that meat food products which bear the inspection legend are

• (l) wholesome,
• (2) free from disease and contamination,
• (3) truthfully labeled, and
• (4) safe to eat.

THE WHOLESOME MEAT ACT - ALL MEAT SLAUGHTERED FOR RETAIL MEAT CHANNELS MUST BE INSPECTED BY STATE OR FEDERAL INSPECTION PROGRAMS. The functions of the program are vital to the health of every man, woman and child in this country and to the consumers of our exported products throughout the world.

The Veterinary Medical Officer in Meat Inspection must assume the responsibility with absolute seriousness - BY HIS EVERY ACT HE PRESENTS TO THE; PACKER AND OTHER CONSUMER PROTECTION PERSONNEL UNDER HIS SUPERVISION THE IMAGE OF FOOD INSPECTION. THE STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS WILL BE NO HIGHER THAN THOSE EFFECTED BY THE VETERINARY MEDICAL OFFICER. THIS INCLUDES EVERYTHING. THE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF THE VETERINARIAN AMPLY EQUIP HIM TO function in this professional capacity. Meat and Poultry Inspection requires no less utilization of your professional education than any other facet of the profession. The objectives are just slightly different. In practice one makes a diagnosis in order to arrive at a proper course of treatment. In Meat and Poultry Inspection one makes a diagnosis in order to arrive at a proper disposition of the carcass or part. 

1.2 HISTORY OF MEAT INSPECTION

1.2.1 EARLY FOOD LAWS:

Man has been carnivorous as far back as ancient history. Recorded history indicates that man has attached some importance to the source and handling of this meat supply from the beginning of time. 

1.2.2 EGYPT:

Ancient Egypt divided animals into clean and unclean. The unclean was the hog,the horse, and other solipeds. The clean were ruminants, nine fish with scales and fins and fowl other than the birds of prey. The priestly class were the enforcers. 

1.2.3 ISRAEL:

The Talmud - Kosher slaughter. In the Bible, in the 11th of Leviticus, there is the admonition to eat the flesh of animals have cloven hoofs and chew the cud, but if the hoof is cloven and they do not chew the cud, they are taboo.If they chew the cud and have not cloven feet they are taboo. In Deuteronomy 14th chapter verses 4-8, there is a list of animals that are clean: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the buck the gazelle, the roebuck, wild goat, the deer, and the antelopes and all clean birds.The following are taboo: the vulture, the kite, the falcon, the crow the hawk, the stork, the bat. All teeming winged creatures are unclean. There were the admonition that they were not to eat animals that had died and they were not to boil the kid in mother's milk; this is the basis for separate vessels for the meat and milk for the orthodox Hebrews. Early Israel also emphasized the negative laws of Trefas and the positive law of Kosher( Ritually clean). The Rabbi and/or Rabbinical representative are in plants to see that meat intended for Jewish trade meets the strict Kosher requirements.

It is germane here to indicate that Mohammedan food regulations are similar to those of the early Egyptian and the Israelites. All of the Semitic races (Babylonians, Assyrians, Aramaeans, Phoenicians), accepted the Egyptian food laws. By contrast the early Romans ate pork which was forbidden under the conditions we have just discussed and the Greeks really favored the young castrated dog.

 1.2.4 MEDIEVAL FLORENTINE:

Guilds of butchers were most powerful, in the 13th/14th century. They promulgated laws that listed licenses, fraudulent practices and sanitation. There were fines for the unskilled and the untidy. This Medieval Florentine Butchers' Guild Laws were the forerunners of modern meat inspection and sanitation.

 1.2.5 GERMANY:

13th and 14th Century Laws: These dealt with measles in pigs, bloating of meat, immaturity of calves, emaciated and diseased animals, pearly disease. In 1276, they had compulsory slaughter inspection in Augburg. In 1615,there was antemortem and postmortem inspection in Barbaria.

 1.2.6 FRANCE:

In 1807 the Public Abattoir System was founded.

1.3 EARLY MEAT INSPECTION LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES PRIOR TO 1980:

1.3.1 Local relationships with the butcher.

• 1. Local relations relationships with the butcher. 1706 - First Meat Inspection Law required butcher to notify health officer to attend slaughter. Farmers had to certify to health of animals.
• 2. Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI-1844)- To control and eradicate animal disease.
• 3. 1890- Meat Inspection Law- With the trend now away from the local butcher, the consumer lost control of operations. It is important to re-emphasize the point that the Meat Inspection Law of 1890 provided for no postmortem inspection of animals, only inspection of meat in pieces, since the purpose of the law was to protect our foreign market export business and aimed at inspection of salted pork and bacon.
• 4. 1891- Antemortem and postmortem inspection for interstate and foreign commerce. One month later the Bureau of Animal Industry was divided and a Meat Inspection Division was created. Regulations were adopted, a system of uniform inspection was created and a veterinary force was authorized to carry out this inspection. In the first year there were 28 plants located in 12 cities and there was microscopic examination for Trichina intended for export only. This microscopic inspection for Trichina was initiated June 22, 1891 and eventually American meats were accepted in Europe. It is important that, although the 1891 law strengthened meat inspection, it still fell far short of meeting what we would now consider to be a satisfactory law. There were no control of labels and labeling was misleading and gave consumers impressions that were not completely true. Additionally, the act did not give the meat inspection force control of disposition of condemned products.
• The owners of the plants still had control of the disposal of the condemned product.There was no guarantee that carcasses and/or parts condemned would actually be condemned.
• 5. 1884- The Meat Inspection Law is amended and strengthened and employees of the service were put under Civil Service. By this time there were 46 plants located in 17 cities. The principle amendment to the law was in 1895.
• 1906- The Meat Inspection Act June 30, 1906. In the spring of 1906 widespread rumors gained credence that the packing houses throughout the country were not operated in a sanitary manner and that the inspection authorized under the Act of 1891 and amended from time to time was not being conducted in a thorough, efficient way. The Secretary of Agriculture appointed a committee to investigate conditions at one of the large packing centers and President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a committee for the same purpose. There were then 3 mitigating forces which lead to passing of the Meat Inspection Law of l906.
• (1) The book, "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was a socialist and he was more concerned with giving capitalist the "works" than a genuine interest in the consumers' welfare. It is true that conditions at the time were deplorable, but it is equally as true that in his expose he sensationalist it. His book which was widely read and lead to the dismissal of Dr. Salmon as chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. Salmon's dismissal was a terrible treatment of a dedicated public servant from a public and a government that knew not what it was doing. True, many of the practices in the packing houses were offensive to many then, but we could say with equally confidence that some of the practices in packing houses would be offensive to many of the consumers today. The Federal Commission later found that Sinclair was 95% false.
• (2) President Theodore Roosevelt,
• (3) the result of his Chicago Investigation.

President Theodore Roosevelt's Chicago Investigating Committee clearly documented the uncleanliness and unsanitary handling of products, the unsanitary conveniences and the treatment of meat after inspection, the unjust treatment of employees and employers actual apathy toward fundamental principles of sanitation. These factors combined to lead to the 1906 Meat Inspection Act. It's essential features could be summarized as following:

• a. It provided for antemortem and postmortem inspection on each carcass.
• b. It prevented diseased and unwholesome meat from entering food channels.
• c. It provided for branding with the labels "U.S. Inspected and Pass" - "U.S. Inspected and Condemned."
• d. Disposal of the condemned in the presence of the inspector.
• e. Qualified re-inspection during processing.
• g. Continuous inspection
• h. Control over ingredients, dyes, chemicals, and other additives.
• j. Truthful, informative labels.
• k. Rigid sanitary standards
• 1. Plant construction standards
• m. Regulated the passage of meat and meat food products in interstate and foreign commerce.
• n. Provided stiff penalties for violations. 

1.4 EARLY POULTRY INSPECTION LAWS

• A. Prior to 1920, almost 1O0% of poultry intended for consumption was purchased on the hoof, as it were, or either as New York dressed.
• B. In 1926, the USDA agreed to examine live birds in an agreement with N.Y. State Live Poultry Commission.
• C. In 1927, the United States Department of Agriculture inspected diseased birds under a N.J. agreement for export of poultry to Canada.
• D. In 1928, N. Y. City insisted on inspection of Dressed birds. Eventually other cities followed with laws requesting the USDA Inspection. It is important to emphasize that this was voluntary. There was no federal law to require inspection. By 1957 approximately 353 poultry processing plants throughout the nation came under this voluntary inspection plan.
• E. 1957 Legislation isolation- Public Law 172 passed by the 85th congress provided for a Compulsory Poultry Inspection Law to become effective January 1959. This Poultry Product Inspection Act had:

   

  • 1. The same essential features as Meat Inspection of 1908.
  • 2. Dealt with only interstate and foreign commerce.

This concludes a rather brief summarization of early food laws and the development of meat and poultry laws in this country. It is then important to consider what happens at the present.

 1.5 CURRENT MEAT AND POULTRY LAWS

1.5.1 Wholesome Meat Act (WMA) 1967.

• A. The important changes made by WMA

• 1. All meat offered for sale must be inspected.This included meat intended for intrastate commerce only.
• 2. Federal State Cooperative Agreement
  • a.Share
  • b.Share training
• 3. The Secretary of Agriculture may designate a plant as being a health hazard and close it immediately.
• 4. All meat processing in the District of Columbia and unorganized territories must be federally inspected.
• 5. All interstate honors and cutters must have federal inspection.
• 6. Certificate of exemption for shipping interstate were eliminated.
• 7. The Secretary of Agriculture was given new authority over transporters, warehouses, renderers, cold storage and animal food manufacturers.
• 8. Imported meats must meet the same standards as domestic meats.
  • a. No meats from countries with Foot and Mouth Diseases are permitted entrance to the U.S.A.
  • b. Once imported they may move in interstate commerce.
• 9. Exemptions in the WMA
  • a. Custom plants, i. e. plants that deal strictly in custom slaughter were exempted from having his inspection.
  • b. Retail dealers were exempted.
• 10. Curtis Amendment - 1970

This allowed custom plants to also sell retail but it requires identification of all meat in the plant. That meat slaughtered in the plant for custom use and not inspected should be marked--NOT FOR SALE.

1.5.2 Wholesome Poultry Product Act (WPPA ) - 1968

• A. Essential features of WPPA are those WMA
• B. Exemptions differ from WMA
  • 1. Farmer Processing 250 turkeys or 1000 chickens per year.
  • 2. Processor handling up to 5000 turkeys or 20,000 chickens per year.
• C. State Inspected Poultry Products are not eligible for interstate commerce .
• D. Amendment - Condemnation of Poultry must be supported by scientific fact.

NOTE:

This is probably an attempt to prevent wholesale condemnation of birds by an inspector for some frivolous reason. It is to be hoped that in any condemnation of meat and/or poultry the reason for the condemnation will be supported by scientific information.

1.6 Purpose and Organization of Meat and Poultry Inspection Services

1.6.1 Purpose of Meat Inspection Programs

• A. Eliminate diseased meat from commercial food channels 
• B. Eliminate meat that would be objectionable or undesirable to the consumer.
• C. Prevention of food borne infections and intoxications through proper sanitary control, and prevention of adulteration and misrepresentation through proper labor control.

1.6.2 Other benefits of a meat inspection program

• A. Aids in detecting and reporting diseases and participates in animal disease control programs.
• B. Aids in preventing disease spread through animal feeds.
• C. Increases marketability of product.

1.6.3 Meat and Poultry Inspection Programs

A. Scientific Technical Services.

This is staff level and administrative

• 1. Label Approval
• 2. New approval
• 3. Laboratory
• 4. Facility and Equipment Standard

B. Field Operations - Field Investigations

• 1. Foreign Programs - approval for imports
• 2. Training
  • a. Planning Staff - Denton, TX
  • b. Training Center - Forth Worth, TX.
• 3. Compliance - violations
• 4. Regional Offices - Since 1972

IV. Field Organization of MPI Programs

• A. Regional Director - (over several states)
• B. Area Veterinarian -(Usually one state)
• C. Circuit Supervisor - (Several plants)
• D. Inspector-in-charge - (Plant level)

V. Meat and Poultry Training Centers

• A. Red Meat - Forth Worth, TX.
• B. Poultry - Forth Worth, TX.
• C. Veterinarians - (4 weeks slaughter inspection)
• D. Meat Inspectors 1 1/2 week processing

VI. State and Local Inspection Programs

• A. Varies somewhat with the state
• B. Inspect plants doing intrastate commerce
• C. Retail stores
• D. Local inspections generally by sanitarians