CANTERBURY'S CHICAGO METHODS

NZ Truth, Issue 177, 7 November 1908, Page 6

CANTERBURY'S CHICAGO METHODS

Is, Diseased Meat Sold to New Zealand Consumers ?

'< "Truth's" remarks about a r&eat com- ■ flaany ia Canterbury that buys, up dayold calves and transports them to the iworks, apparently for human, consumption, nave aroused considerable -attention, »nd have been the means of furnishing this fearless newspaper with, fujrther m Jtormation on the subject- The; company m question has entered into competition iwith fiie retail butchers m a Canterbury centre, but, singularly enough, although {the local retailers are compelled' to kill ■jat the Municipal abattoirs, where there I IS RIGID INSPECTION, Ahe company is permit-ted to kjll for hujman consumption at its own -works un"der the. eye of ah ' inspector, who certain- < fly may be a public official, but whose jsalary is guaranteed either m. '.part- or as a whole by the company itself. Or"dmary common butchers, who , are compelled to kill at the Municipal slaughterbouse, are not permitted to submit for 'sacrifice calves under 601 b weight, which (weight, upon an average, would represent a youthful member of the bovine tribe |( which is plain "calf" m English) of Jabout a month old. As the obnoxious Company transports to its works calves jof a day, two days, three days, a<nd a. 2ew hours' old, representing 251 b to 30ft, Information respecting what is done with Ithem becomes a matter of public importance. The assumption that they are fturned into manure is absnrd, m face of fthe fact that the skin is worth Is to Us 6d, and the. carcase, for manure purposes, considerably less. The company recently installed a huge sausage-making ■(plant, and the fearful assortment of •■-"■'' MYSTERIOUS SUNDRIES ftfaat this machine swallows up is appalfling. The variety of things that an. un--'flicked calf can be turned into is intertesting, sausages, meat paste, and potted preserve being .the principal, and the .question that arises with redoubled force jevery time it is thought of, is,. "Where fis the' blasted inspector ?" Take the jordinary meat company : The inspector istarts on the premises at from f. 30 to 410 a.m., and remains till 5 p.m. with an fSnterval for lunch, Which doesn't include ■'dubious sausages m the menu. This ,papjjer asks, with asperity, m view of the "^practically ~ substantiated suspicions Qalbout, at least, one of the meat conipanties m Oanterbury, "What is the Inspector doing to earn his crust m a , legititnate mariner?" Strange l;ow a little <exposure, such as recently appeared m '"Truth," brings information respecting ■ibe practices of meat coro.panies. Take ••the method of inspection, for example. Jflf a carcase shows merely -slight signs of disease, it is turned into preserved meat, and represents these potted delicacies rthat nre much priced, and .sometimes re■sult m ptomaric' "poisoning. If the carbase is diseased only from a medium point of view with cancer or tuberculosis, or whatever the complaint might he, the corpses' is turned into meat exrtiact or BovfU, so vaJucd by . invalids. ■ llf it happen'; that tho diseased animal is 4 bo filthily IMPRE'iNATEn WITH DISEASE '\t is condemned altogether and ordered to lie destroyed, but oven m this pislanca it lias been known that sound portions o£ the .carcs§£-iiavß heeti cut out. uotwifclistandinp; tbe^lact tdiat the blood unust l:e tliseasp-ppisOned, and these horrid bce£ or mutton cuts find their way into liunTian consumption, either through a retail shop or tlirough the all-devour-ißK and mvsieiy-hiding sausage machine. tf'Bcef". extract is a misaoffier, ia any

case; as elderly sheep, fob attenuated from old age to be exposed for sale ■ without exciting derisive remark, are converted into • "beef " extract, and the public doesn't know what it is getting. "Truth" has been promised some authentic, and duly signed information' (before Magistrates) about the happenings m at least, one-: of the company works m Canterbury, and publishes the above to go on with. T-his paper has received further information that pertains particularly to the treatment of calves by a meat company in* Canterbury; There is a poor devil of an employee of the company who has just emerged from the hospita]l after painful treatment for ringworm, contracted by handling extremely young calves. The disease, ; which is highly infectious, ■ attacked the man's face, and was of a very rabid order. It was found necessary to use the Rontgen rays on the unfortunate victim, the -hair on whose countenance seemed to die at the rcots. The only- provision made m the legislature of the country for cases of this kind, enacts that a sick employee s' ?-t receive half wages, but it was necessary for the unfortunate man to employ a lawyer to force the company-, by threats of proceedings, into doing its obvious duty. W&at this paper is particularly concerned with is, WHAT BECOMES OF THE RINGWORMED CALVES ? Truth is informed that they go into 'human consumption m the way of sausages and paste, and potted meat, and meat extract, all of which delicacies are sold ,m the po.'s retail shops, and are even disposed of . to grocers, who disseminate the horrible stuff far end wide. This, aspect of the question requires looking into.