OCR Text |
Show NO NEED TO FEAR MEAT i Thorough Cooking of Uninspected Meat Will Render It Safe From Foot-and-Mouth Infection. Prepared by the United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture. According to the specialists of the department of agriculture people, even in states quarantined for the foot-and-mouth disease, need have no fear of eating meat, provided they cook it thoroughly. The foot-and-mouth disease dis-ease is not easily communicated to human beings through food, although milk from a diseased cow might transmit trans-mit the disease to a human being. In the case of milk, however, pasteurization pasteuriza-tion will render it entirely safe. Human Hu-man beings who do get the disease commonly get it from direct contact with a sick animal. It is wisest, therefore, there-fore, for people to keep away from all animals having the disease, unless they are properly provided with rubber rub-ber gloves, coats and boots, and these are thoroughly disinfected after each visit to the animals. In the case of meat, as in the case jf milk, it must be remembered that jll herds which actually show the disease dis-ease are quarantined, and neither milk nor meat from the sick animals can be Bold. Sixty per cent of the meat used In this country is produced in nearly BOO federally inspected slaughtering and packing establishments located in 240 cities. In these establishments po animal is slaughtered until it has passed an ante-mortem inspection and wlso a most rigid post-mortem inspection inspec-tion by a veterinarian at the time of f slaughter. After slaughter its, meat cannot leave the establishment until it has been carefully examined and stamped "U. S. Inspected and Passed." In all these establishments no animal Bhowing finy symptoms whatever of foot-and-mouth disease is allowed to go to slaughter, and no meat which, on post-mortem inspection, shows any suspicious sus-picious symptoms of this complaint can be shipped out of the establishment. All meat suspected of coming from an animal suffering with this complaint is sent, under government seal, to the tanks to be rendered into fertilizer. The federal inspection stamp on meat, therefore, means that it is entirely safe. The federal government, however, has no jurisdiction over local slaughter houses which do not ship meat outside of the state in which it is slaughtered. If, however, meat from such an animal did escape from one of these local slaughter houses, which are purely under un-der state or municipal control, all danger dan-ger of its communicating the disease to human beings would be removed when it is thoroughly cooked and sterilized. ster-ilized. Those who are located near an infected region and wish to be absolutely ab-solutely certain of the safety of their meat should cook it thoroughly. The disease when contracted by adults is not at all a serious illness. It commonly takes the form of slight fevei?' sores in the mouth and a slight eruption on the fingers. In the case of small or sickly children, it may take a more serious form, especially if wa plicated by other illnesses. |