Meat Inspection Act Essay Example

make surprise visits to meat packing facilities. Despite betrayal of the secret to the meat packers, who worked three shifts a day for three weeks to thwart the inspection, Neill and Reynolds were still revolted by the conditions at the factories and at the lack of concern by plant managers.

Following their report, Roosevelt became a supporter of regulation of the meat packing industry. The FMIA mandated the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection of meat processing plants that conducted business across state lines. 34 Stat. 674 (amended by Pub. L. No. 59-242, 34 Stat. 1260 (1967)) (codified at 21 U. S. C. §§ 601 et seq. ). The Pure Food and Drug Act, enacted on the same day in 1906, also gave the government broad jurisdiction over food in interstate commerce. Pub. L. No. 59-384, 34 Stat. 768 (1906), (codified at 21 U. S. C. § 1-15) (1934) (repealed in 1938 by 21 U. S. C. § 392(a)). The four primary requirements of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were: Mandatory inspection of livestock before slaughter (cattle, sheep, goats, equines, and swine; Mandatory postmortem inspection of every carcass; Sanitary standards established for slaughterhouses and meat processing plants; and Authorized U. S. Department of Agriculture ongoing monitoring and inspection of slaughter and processing operations. After 1906, many additional laws that further standardized the meat industry and its inspection were passed.