Ogden Evening Standard | 1910-09-01 | Page 4 | Uncle Sam on Killing Chickens

UNCLE SAM ON KILLING CHICKENS. The government these days is growing more and more practical, and hence it surprised no one to find that Dr, H. W. Wiley, the pure-food pure-food expert of the agricultural department, in his latest report attacks at-tacks the homely but important problem of how to dress chickens properly for home eating or market. Only thirty per cent of the chickens found in the markets have been properly bled, says Dr. Wiley, who after thirty centuries is going back to the dietetic principle which according to the book of Leviticus Leviti-cus the Lord laid down to the people through Moses but which most of the world except the Jews have disobeyed, namely, that blood should not be eaten by man. Chickens should be starved for twenty-four hours before being killed, says the modern Moses, but they should be allowed plenty of good pure water. It is exceedingly important that the chicken's body should be thoroughly drained of blood. This lightens the color of the meat, makes the flesh firmer and adds to its keeping qualities. In fact poultry bled uniformly brings several cents a pound more than that which is killed in a haphazard way. Dr. Wiley in his directions direc-tions to the executioner says: "Grasp the chicken when killing by the bony part of the skull. Do not let the fingers touch the neck. Make a small cut with a small, sharppointcd knife on the right side of the roof of tho chicken's chick-en's mouth, just where the bones of the skull end. "Brain for dry picking by thrusting the knife through the groove which runs along the middle line of the roof of the mouth until it touches the skull midway between the eyes. Use a knife which is not more than two inches long, one-fourth inch wide, with a thin, flat handle, a sharp point, and a straight cutting edge."