FARM AND STATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2181, 19 December 1895, Page 49

FARM AND STATION.

SOUKD MEAT EXPOKTS. It is important that farmers iv this colony should know what steps have been taken, or are contemplated, by their formidable competitors iv British aud European meat markets with the view to establish a complete confidence in the absolute healthfuluess of flesh meats purveyed. The exports of meats are fostered and stimulated by tbe Governments of most exporting countries, and as the knowledge of the dangers to. human health from the consumption of suspicious food 3 has be." come more widely understood, the authorities in the United States — in advance, and now following the example of the Australian colonies — are adopting measures to ensure the freedom from disease of all animals slaughtered for export in any form. The proposed regulations are of the most stringent form, and as they are i based on those iflk force in the United States a summary of these is sketched out because our exporters must follow the line or suffer from aroused suspicions of consumers. So long ago as 1891 an act was passed by the United States Legislature to provide for the "inspection of live cattle, hogs, aad the carcasfs and products thereof which are tha subj°cts of intei'-State commerce." This, it will be observed, was a precautionary measure for the protection of the health of the United States communities only, but as grave suspicions arose in the minds of European consumers of American meats, the United States Government passed an act on March 2, 1895, which prescribes regulations for the inspection of live stock and their products and the establishment of inter-State quarantine stations. By this act proprietors of slaughterhouses, canning, salting, y packiDg, or rendering establishments engaged in the slaughter of cattle, sheep, or swine, " the carcases or products of which are to become the subjects of inter- State or foreign commerce," are compsl'ed to make application to the United States Secretary of Agriculture for authoritative iuepection of all animals killed, and of tbe premises. The different State authorities are required to enforce tha act ; but if these fail in their duties the following more stringent regulation is to be enforced :—": — " An ante mortem examination of all animals arriving at the stockyards for slaughter at nbaltoirs killing for the inter-Stats trade shall be made when said animals are weighed, or, it not weighed, tLis inspect : on shall be made in the pens. Any animal found to be diseased or unfit for human food shall be maiked by placing in the ear a metal tag bearing ' U.S. condemned ' and a serial number. Such condemned animals f-hall be at once removed bjr the owner from the pens contaiuing animals which hive i been inspected and found to be free from disease and fit for human food, and must bo disposed of in accordance with the lawe, ordinances, and regulations of tho State and municipality in which said condemned animals are located." No animal is allowed to pa?s to the slaughttrroom until it has been inspected, and all animals found upon either ante mortem or post mortem examination affected with any of the following diseases are condemned : — Hog cholera, swine plague, anthrax, rabies, malignant epizootic catarrh, pjajmia and septicaemia, mange or scab in advanced stage?, actiaomjeosis or lumpy jaw in advanced stages, Texas fever, extensive or generalised tuberculosis, and inflammation of the lungs, intestines, or peritoneum. Any organ or part of a carcase which is badly bruised or affected by tuberculosis, actinc mycosis, cancer, a'rscess, suppuratiDgsore, or tapeworm cy&ts, must also be condemned. Carcase* that bear the yellow condemnation tag have to be deposited on tanks in the premises, and " rendered " in such a manner as to make them unsaleable as an edible meat.

la addition to the same inspection as is demanded for cattle and sheep, all awitie products for exportation must be microscopically examined for trichinae, and carcases reported upon by the microscopist as affected munt be dealt with a? already desciibed. Sbould there be no facilities at band for thus disposing of the carcase, it must be removed to " rendering works " designated by the inspector, and thero disposed of in such a manner as to make it unsaleable as uncookod meat ; or it may bo rendered into edible lard at a temperature not less than 150deg Fahr., or mado in^o cooked meat products if the temperature is raised to the boiling point a sufficiently long time to thoroughly cook the interior of the pieces. The regulations for the inspection of cattle, sheep, and 'swine imported into tbe United States are of a very stringent character. Such animals are only permitted to enter at certain specified port*, thoße on the Atlantic seaboard bsing New York, Boston, and Baltimore. For the purpose of these import regulations the words "contagious diseases " are held to apply to all or any of tho following: — "Anthrax in cattle, sheep, goa*s, or swine ; contagions pleuro-pneumonia in cattle ; Texas or splenetic fever in cattle ; tuberculosis in cattle ; foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, sheep, goats, and swine ; rinderpest in cattle and sheep ; sheep pox, foot-rot, and scab in sheep ; hog cholera, swine plague, and erysipelas in swine. Hog cholera, we may remark, is identical with the disease known as swine fever in England. No rurcioauts are allowed to enter unless accompanied by a certificate from the local authority stating that the district in which the animals have been for one year next preceding tbe date of shipment has during that period been free from contagious pleuro-pneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease, and rinderpest. In the case of swine the district must have been free from foot-and-mouth disease, hog cholera, and erysipelas. Neat cattle are subject to a quarantine of 90 days, and sheep and swine of 15 days, Counting from date of arrival at the quarantine station." Even under these stringent conditions cattle, sheep, and pigs are only permitted to eater the United States for breeding purposes, and ao it will be readily understood that the couutry will establish a claim to pre-eminence for eound meat products.