File No. 2338/7–10.
[Inclosure.]
The Secretary of
Agriculture to the Secretary of
State.
Department of Agriculture,
Washington, January 31,
1907.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 17th instant, file No. 2338, and note
the copy of dispatch which you inclose from the American ambassador
at Paris with reference to the memorandum from the French department
of agriculture calling for further information as to the mode of
inspection under the act of Congress of June 30, 1906.
In relation to this matter I inclose herewith duplicate copies, with
the amendments issued to date, of the regulations which have been
issued under the act of Congress of June 30, 1906. This act is
printed in full, commencing at page 28 of the inclosed pamphlets.
From perusal of the same it may be observed that the authority
conferred on this department by this act is much more extensive and
far-reaching than the authority conferred by the act of March 3,
1891. Under the latter the examination conducted by inspectors of
this department was mainly confined to the inspection of live
animals before slaughter and a post-mortem inspection of them at the
time of slaughter. There was no authority to supervise the various
processes to which meat was subjected after the animals were killed.
Under the act of June 30, 1906, however, this department has
authority not only to inspect the live animals and to make
post-mortem examinations at the time of slaughter, but to follow
each and every operation to which the meat is subjected while it is
in the packing house. The inspection under the new law requires the
department inspectors to know in what manner pork and other meats
are handled after slaughter. By the terms of regulation 39, packers
are prohibited from using any drug, chemical, or preservative not
named in the regulation or amendments in the preparation of their
meats. The inspectors are required to ascertain that the meats are
sound and wholesome and that all rooms, tanks, vats, and apparatus
used in curing the same are kept in a clean and sanitary condition.
This rigid inspection also applies to canning, smoking, and all
processes to which meat is subjected. This inspection is conducted,
not only during the daytime, but under the law, the department is
authorized to and does maintain inspectors at establishments during
the night who strictly examine each and every process in the
preparation of meat.
Inspection with the microscope is not considered necessary for pork
that is to be consumed in the United States, since pork, as a rule,
is not eaten in this country in the raw state, and ordinary cooking
destroys all danger from trichina. Formerly microscopic inspection
was conducted on American pork only when such pork was destined for
shipment to a country requiring such inspection. Some of these
countries now make this inspection after arrival within their
borders, so that microscopic inspection by this department is not
required, except to detect disease which can not be determined by
any other means.
I am firmly of the opinion that the inspection of meat and meat-food
products under the new act is superior to that formerly conducted,
and suggest that
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this
inspection be brought to the attention of the French authorities,
assuring them that a most rigid and efficacious inspection is
enforced under the new act and that the certificate of microscopic
inspection appears unnecessary.
It might be advisable to bring to the attention of the French
authorities the fact that the food and drugs act of June 30, 1906,
to which they refer in their communication, is separate and distinct
from the meat-inspection act approved June 30, 1906. The latter
refers to meat inspection only, while the former, known as the
pure-food law, relates to food and drugs in general.
If there is any further information with reference to the
meat-inspection act and the method of its administration which is
desired by the French authorities, I shall be pleased to answer
inquiries on the subject.
I have, etc.,
