The Meat Inspection Act 1906 – Hygienic Slaughterhouses

The American author Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle was based on his undercover work in Chicago meatpacking plants in 1904. 

The Jungle described unsanitary conditions in which workers did not bother removing poisoned rats from meat before it was made into sausage. Workers washed their hands in “the water to be used for sausage making”. Every spring, workers cleaned out waste barrels containing old meat and “dirt, rust and old nails,” and truckloads of sausages made with fresh meat in these barrels were sent to the public's breakfast tables. Pieces thrown into open vats on the floor and left until everything but the bones was gone also went out into the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard.

Sinclair also wrote: “Men welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle they raised because it made them gain weight faster.” He also noted that old, moldy sausages were “mixed with borax and glycerin, thrown into grinders and remade for home consumption”. Meat was left in dirt and sawdust on floors where workers spat and then reused.

President Theodore Roosevelt believed Sinclair's descriptions were exaggerated. Nevertheless, he sent Labor Secretary Charles P. Neill to inspect the meatpacking plants. Neill confirmed that the factory conditions were “disgusting”. Public pressure eventually led to the passage of the 1906 Meat Inspection Act. The law required meatpacking plants doing business across state lines to be inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture. Inspectors were tasked with examining slaughterhouse hygiene and livestock (such as cattle, sheep and pigs) before and after slaughter. This and subsequent national reforms became part of the fight against foodborne diseases caused by tapeworms, bacteria (such as Salmonella and Campylobacter) and other contaminants.

Modern cattle production may involve slaughter facilities capable of processing 400 cattle per hour. This speed can sometimes lead to accidental fecal contamination due to hurried slaughter.

About the Article Image: Meat workers separate pig backbones and prepare them for final inspection. The photograph was taken in 1906 in the cooler at Swift & Co in Chicago.

Historical Figures Mentioned in the Article: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858–1919), Charles Patrick Neill (1865–1942), Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (1878–1968)

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