Cruelties Connected with the Meat Trade
In a report given by a special sanitary commissioner of the London Lancet, who is engaged in an investigation of the American meat trade, some startling facts are brought to light concerning the cruelties practised in the large slaughter-houses, and the disgusting and filthy way in which meat is prepared for human consumption. He says:— “I saw bullocks slaughtered in the following manner: the animals are brought up to a huge building which looks more like a lofty prison than a slaughter-house. As they approach the outer wall, men strike them on the head with a mallet. Then a sort of wooden partition gives way and lets the half-stunned animals fall into the basement of the building beyond. As they come tumbling in, men seize their hind legs, affix ropes, and they are strung up to some machinery above that moves them along with their heads hanging downward. Sometimes, however, and before this can be done, the animal jumps up and rushes out. It has then to be shot, at the risk of the bullet striking an on-looker. Indeed, so great is the hurry that the unfortunate animals are frequently not given time to die. When strung up, the machinery carries the living animal forward, and men have to run after it to cut its throat, while others follow with great pails to catch the blood; and all this without interrupting the dying animal’s journey to the part of the factory where the next process of manufacture begins. Sometimes the cattle are struck down and stunned more quickly than the men can pick them up and cut their throats, so they are left to live some time suspended in the air by their hind feet.” “The machinery carries forward the animals that are hooked on to it regardless of their agony. On they go from stage to stage of manufacture, and the men have to keep pace with them whether dead or alive. Quickly the throats are cut, no time can be lost to let the animal bleed, a man with a pail must walk by its side to catch the blood. Much of the hot blood is spilt over the man or over the floor; that does not matter so long as a small section of a minute is economized. “In a short time the bullock, whether it has bled sufficiently or not, and while still warm, will reach one of the darkest , lowest, and worst-ventilated portions of this huge and gloomy building. Here the entrails are taken out. The dirtiest work is done in the closest, the darkest, and the dirtiest place, instead of being carried on in the open air or under such slight shelter as would not prevent the free access of air and sunshine. It would be quite impossible to disinfect such premises. There are innumerable rafters, sharp angles, nooks, and corners where blood, the splashing of offal, and the sputum of tuberculous workers can accumulate for weeks, months, and years. It does not look as if the floors are ever really cleaned, though I am told they are occasionally scrubbed. Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in any genuine cleanliness, for here is the evidence of the windows about which there can be no doubt, and they are heavily caked with dirt. “In these dark places the meat falls on the floor and comes in contact with the dirt from the boots of the workers and the bacilli from the sputum of a population among whom pulmonary tuberculosis is more prevalent than among any other section of the inhabitants of Chicago. “Many of the workers hold the food which they produce in utter abhorrence. Diseased meat is often sold.”