Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; authorized translation by Earley Vernon Wilcox : with an introduction by John R. Mohler.

Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of meat inspection / by Robert Ostertag ; authorized translation by Earley Vernon Wilcox : with an introduction by John R. Mohler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    65/934 (page 25)
    The first mention which we find of a veterinary surgeon is in the general rescript of Wiirtemberg in the year 1761, which prescribed in case of an outbreak of an animal plague that if a trained scientific veterinarian is established in the bezirk, the high bailiff shall have the necessary careful inspection made immediately on the spot by him, or otherwise under the immediate direction of the chief physician by some legitimate practicing veterinarian who has passed an examination. The electoral government of Bavaria, in a general mandate of August 16, 1761, revived the regulations concerning meat inspection from the year 1615 as follows: Persons who wish to have animals slaughtered shall give notice of such purpose to duly installed meat inspectors and brand butchers in order that both large and small animals may be slaughtered in the presence of meat inspectors and that thus any punishment may be avoided, and this shall be enforced whether the animal is healthy or infected with a disease, in order that the meat may be buried, or utilized in case it is healthy. The appointment of two reliable and trained men for the slaughtering, inspection and description of anima's was prescribed also for those places where there Wc^re no butchers. Of the newer regulations, mention should be made of the Wiirtemburg ministerial decree of the year 1802 concerning the prevention of the then so frequent cases of sausage poisoning, and another decree from the year 1822, which, in consequence of an outbreak of rinderpest, prohibited all traffic in horned animals and meat, as well as the utilization of the skins, meat, dung and tallow of diseased or affected animals in infected localities. In 1822 the viae of the meat of animals affected with anthrax, was also for- bidden. A scientific influence manifested itself first in those ordinances which were passed after the Thirty Yeai-s' War. This influence, however, aside from the Bruchsal ordinance, was merely of local application, and consequently the action of official decrees was defective. The previously mentioned J. P. Frank specifically called atten- tion to this unfortunate condition toward the end of the 18th century and simultaneously indicated the importance of the official regulation of the traffic in food materials for the public welfare, in connection with numerous examples. The lack of scientifically trained veterinary surgeons was felt most keenly. This deficiency was obviated by the establishment of veterinary schools at the end