Edwin O. Jordan

“ Meat is a less likely source of infection than milk, chiefly because it is rarely eaten without cooking. Opinion regarding the actual frequency of the transmission of tuberculosis by means of the meat of tuberculous cattle has been widely at variance in the past, and must even now be based on indirect evidence. There is no well-established instance of human infection from the use of the flesh of tuberculous cattle. ”

“ Most of the commissions and official agencies that have considered the precautions to be taken against possible tuberculous meat infection are agreed that the entire carcass of an animal should be condemned when the tuberculous lesions are generalized or when the lesions are extensive in one or both body cavities as well as when the lesions are "multiple, acute, and actively progressive." Any organ showing evidence of tuberculous lesions is obviously not to be passed as food. ”

“ Probably the evidence respecting the effect of benzoic acids and the benzoates when used as food preservatives constitutes as favorable a case as can be made out at the present time for the employment of any chemical substance. Benzoic acid is present in noteworthy amounts in many fruits and berries, especially cranberries, and its presence in these natural foods has never been connected with any injurious action. In point of fact, substances present in many ordinary foodstuffs are converted within the human body first into benzoic acid and then into hippuric acid. ”

“ With Asiatic cholera, just as with typhoid fever, domestic animals are not susceptible to the disease, all cases of infection having a direct human origin. Drinking-water is the usual vehicle of cholera infection, and even in countries where the disease is endemic, food-borne outbreaks of this disease are far less common than those of typhoid fever. Occasional instances of Asiatic cholera due to milk supply and to contaminated fruits or lettuce are on record, but these are exceptional and cannot be regarded as exemplifying a common mode of spread of this disease. ”

“ Probably the most effective method of preventing typhoid food infection is to investigate every case of typhoid fever and trace it, so far as practicable, to its origin. In this way typhoid-carriers may be discovered and other foci of infection brought to light. Carriers, once found, may be given proper advice and warned that they constitute a danger to others; the complete control of typhoid-carriers who are not disposed to act as advised is a difficult problem and one not yet solved by public health authorities. ”

“ Poisonous plants have sometimes figured conspicuously in human affairs. Every reader of ancient history knows how Socrates "drank the hemlock," and how crafty imperial murderers were likely to substitute poisonous mushrooms for edible ones in the dishes prepared for guests who were out of favor. In our own times the eating of poisonous plants is generally an accident, and poisoning from this cause occurs chiefly among the young and the ignorant. ”

“ Human infection is practically accidental and self-limited; biologically speaking, man as a host does not enter into the calculations of the parasite.
Treatment of established trichiniasis infection is palliative, not truly remedial. The parasites, once inside the body, cannot be materially affected by the administration of any drug. While cure of trichiniasis is thus difficult, if not impossible, prevention is very simple. The thorough cooking of all food is sufficient to preclude infection. ”