In addition to this communication I have verbally indicated to the foreign
office the hurtful consequences of the obnoxious regulations prohibiting the
introduction of American pork into Portuguese territory, and I impressed
upon it not only the injury done to the commerce of the United States by the
unnecessary stringency of these measures, but I dwelt upon the fact that the
population of the kingdom was thereby deprived of an article of food which
is nutritious, healthful, and cheap.
My note is now before the consultative board of health, and I am assured that
it will receive the attention and action that the importance of the subject
demands; and I have only to add that I shall be active in my efforts to
effect an early removal of all restrictions now existing.
[Inclosure in No. 380.]
Mr. Moran to Senhor
Hintze Ribeiro.
Legation of the United States,
Lisbon, July 16,
1881.
Sir: On the 14th of March, 1879, an official
publication was made in the Diario do Governo by his excellency the
minister of the interior, stating that in consequence of trichinosis
having manifested itself in the United States, and as a measure taken in
accord with the board of public health, all importations into Portugal
and the adjacent islands of all the products of the flesh of swine had
been forbidden by the consultative board of public health. This notice
was followed on the 20th of the same month by the appearance in the
Gazetta das Alfandagas of a portaria issued on
the 17th, which prohibited not only the importation for consumption into
Portuguese territory of such products of swine as are used for human
food when coming from the United States, but refusing permission for it
to be even warehoused or temporarily deposited on shore.
Although not officially notified by His Majesty’s Government of the
imposition of these stringent measures, I transmitted to my government
on the 21st April, 1879, all details of the measures thus taken by the
Portuguese authorities, and information obtained either from the public
prints or by private communications from commercial sources; and I have
now the honor to state to your excellency that I am instructed by my
government to communicate to that of His Majesty that in view of the
above restrictions, and of some others of a less rigid character, an
investigation has been made under the authority of the Department of
State into the various industries connected with the supply of pork in
the United States, whether intended for consumption at home or
export.
The facts set forth in this report, of which I inclose two copies in
pamphlet form, appear to be conclusive as to the superiority of the pork
product of the United States and I beg to present for your excellency’s
careful consideration the conclusions therein arrived at, viz:
- 1.
- That the swine of America are of the best and purest breeds,
and are fed and fattened for market on corn. It is not believed
that swine are thus fed in any other country.
- 2.
- That the reports published in Europe concerning the death of
American hogs from hog cholera are gross exaggerations.
- 3.
- That the percentage of deaths among American swine from
disease is no greater than the percentage of deaths among
European swine from similar diseases.
- 4.
- That American hogs which have died or may die of cholera, or
from any cause whatever, can have no relation to the meat
product (except to decrease it), as such animals cannot by any
possibility pass the severe scrutiny and inspection to which
hogs destined for killing and curing are subject; that even if
it were possible to pass such inspection, no art of the curer
could convert such animals into meat which could pass the
inspection, in the words of a leading curer, “even of a blind
man.”
- 5.
- That the fears excited and fostered in parts of Europe, by
interested persons, that any portion of hogs which have died or
may die of cholera, or from any other cause, is or can be
converted into merchantable lard, are founded on the grossest
ignorance, for merchantable lard cannot be produced from such
dead animals.
- 6.
- That every pound of the product rendered from diseased hogs,
except that part [Page 978] used
as a fertilizer, is plainly marked “brown grease,” “white
grease,” or “dead hog’s grease,” and sold as such largely to
soap manufacturers, and that its color and odor preclude it from
being mistaken for lard.
- 7.
- That the same care is taken in the handling and manufacture of
American lard which is taken in the handling and curing of
American meats; and that as the corn-fed American hog is the
cleanest of its species anywhere, it is undeniable that American
lard is the purest lard in any market.
- 8.
- That the percentage of American hogs infected with trichinæ
(though this question is thus far largely one of supposition) is
in all probability, by reason of the superiority of the breed
and food, much less than that among the hogs of any other
country.
- 9.
- That the freedom from trichinosis of the two great
pork-consuming centers of the West, Chicago and Cincinnati,
furnishes the strongest possible evidence of the purity of
American pork.
- In Chicago for a series of years, in which forty thousand
deaths were reported with their causes, only two cases of
trichinosis were reported. In Cincinnati during the same period
not one case was reported.
- 10.
- That the reported cases of trichinosis have resulted from
eating uncooked meat, shown to be inferior or rejected, and that
thorough cooking entirely destroys this parasite and removes all
danger, in this regard, from eating pork.
- 11.
- That the selection, inspection, and killing of American hogs,
and the subsequent handling and curing of the meat, are not
surpassed, if at all equaled, for care, precision, and
understanding, by the packers or meat curers of any other
country.
- 12.
- That as a rule the hogs selected for foreign trade are in all
respects equal to the very best disposed of in our home
market.
- 13.
- That the great exaggerations so industriously circulalated in
regard to diseased pork have been aided by the different
significations attached to the word “pig.” In Europe it is used
as the synonym of hog, whereas in America it means the young
swine under six months, and generally refers to those only a few
weeks old. The number of “pigs” that die from various causes
compared with the numbers of hogs that die is very large, and
grossly erroneous conclusions are formed by confounding the two
words.
As an earnest of the conclusions to which it is hoped and believed the
governments of Europe have excluded American pork, as well as other
governments may arrive, and in view of your suggestion, Mr. Secretary,
that its publication is due to the candid spirit in which the government
of His Majesty the King of the Belgians has met the charges made against
the pork product of the United States, I have the honor to add that, as
appears by a circular addressed on the 28th April last by the Belgian
minister of the interior to the governors of His Majesty’s provinces,
the question of excluding American pork from that country has been
decided in favor of the United States.
The charge against our product under which it has been excluded from
France is disposed of in this circular by conclusions, the substance of
which is—
That disease generated by trichinæ is unknown in countries where, as in
Belgium, pork is sufficiently cooked; and that it has been demonstrated
by many experiments that the trichinæ cannot resist a temperature of 56°
centigrade, and that they are invariably killed at a temperature of 75°
to 100° centigrade.
This report also says: “It is important to make known the fact that pork
well cooked, whatever trichinæ it may contain, is entirely inoffensive,
and consequently no one need suffer from this cause unless he wishes to,
and nothing is necessary except scrupulous persistence in the use of
needful precautions of the kitchen.”
These conclusions of the Belgian minister of the interior are based on a
careful report of the Belgian official council of public health.
While calling your excellency’s attention to the whole series of
“conclusions” quoted above, I would particularly dwell upon the fact
stated in the ninth, that the freedom from trichinosis of the two great
pork-consuming centers of the West, the cities of Chicago and
Cincinnati, furnishes the strongest possible evidence of the purity of
American pork. In Chicago, for a series of years in which 40000 deaths
were reported with their causes, only two cases of trichinosis were
reported, while in Cincinnati, during the same period, not one case was
reported; and should the presentation of the case thus made in its
entirety to His Majesty’s Government lead to the reinstatement in the
estimation of the Portuguese of this important product, and to its
renewed unrestricted admission into the kingdom, and to its restoration
to general use as an article of food cheap in cost and absolutely
harmless in consumption, a measure for which I am instructed to say my
government would be very thankful, and one which I do not hesitate to
assert can in no way inflict injury upon the public health.
Under separable cover accompanying this note, I have the honor to
transmit to your excellency a number of copies of the report above
referred to.
I have, &c.,
