to slaughter except in those cases where, in the opinion of the inspector, such inspection is necessary. Under today's marketing system for live poultry, the poultry is delivered to the processing plants in trucks, in batteries, or in coops and, in most instances, is hung directly on the slaughter line from the delivery container. The only opportunity for observing the live birds would be either while in the truck or in the container as it is removed from the truck. An adequate ante mortem inspection must provide an opportunity to observe the bird while at rest, in motion, and in an undisturbed state. Because of the size of the unit bird, the temperament of birds, the large numbers involved and marketing methods and live poultry transportation equipment types, we are of the opinion that it is most difficult to make an accurate appraisal of poultry health except at the farm prior to disturbing the flock at pickup time for shipment. It is our experience that sick poultry reacts differently from cattle, hogs, and sheep under handling during normal movement to market. Because of this, it would be impracticable to try to make inspection of large lots of birds, in rest and in motion, as is done with cattle, hogs, and sheep, at processing plants. The regulations presently governing the voluntary poultry-inspection program provide that ante mortem examination of poultry may be required by the Administrator as a prerequisite to any inspection and such ante mortem inspection shall be carried out under such conditions and in accordance with such methods as may be prescribed by the Administrator. During the past few years, the Poultry Inspection Service has been carrying on ante mortem inspection in official plants to a limited extent. In 1952 the Inspection Branch, Poultry Division, issued an antemortem instruction. This instruction and supplement thereto, issued at a later date, outlined in considerable detail the procedure to be followed by Inspection personnel in making the antemortem inspection and disposing of live poultry found to be showing clinical symptoms or other conditions making them obviously unfit for slaughter for human food. Methods for performing the inspection and the procedures are extensively outlined in the instructions referred to. Attached are copies of these detailed instructions, all of which deal with the subject of antemortem inspection as it is presently performed by the Federal Poultry Inspection Service governing such antemortem inspection: 1. Instruction No. 918 (PY) Antemortem-1, entitled "Antemortem inspection of poultry" dated Feb. 28, 1952. 2. AMS FY-instruction No. 918, Ántemortem-1, Supplement No. 1 entitled "Antemortem inspection of poultry" dated October 10, 1956. 3. Memorandum by Dr. Daniel DeCamp, Assistant Chief, Inspection Branch, Poultry Division, entitled "Antemortem InspectionConsideration of Birds Suspected of being Affected with Oraithosis" dated October 9, 1956. 4. Memorandum by Dr. Daniel DeCamp, Assistant Chief, Inspection Branch, Poultry Division, entitled "Procedure To Be Followed When Poultry Is Being Processed in an Official Plant for Shipment to Great Britain for use by United States Forces" dated October 19, 1956. In the opinion of the veterinary personnel of the Poultry Inspection Branch, antemortem inspection of poultry should provide for: 1. Inspection of each lot, leaving the degree of antemortem inspection subject to change or variation as future experience may require. 2. Segregation and holding of suspect birds. 3. Immediate condemnation and disposal of birds unfit for slaughter. 4. Coordination and evaluation of antemortem and postmortem findings on suspect birds. 5. Adequate cleaning and disinfection of trucks, equipment, and premises used in the transport, holding, or handling of live poultry when disease conditions necessitating such measures are found. 6. Continued development and improvement of a coordinated working relationship with other Federal, State, and local livestock disease control agencies, and public-health agencies. The Poultry Inspection Service recommended that further studies should be made with respect to methods, procedures, and extent of antemortem inspection which may be necessary for consumer protection and the protection of the health of poultry industry workers. If such studies should reveal that modifications of the present instructions would serve to further the accomplishment of that purpose, such modifications would, of course, be made. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, INSTRUCTION No. 918 (PY) ANTEMORTEM-1 Action by: Regional Supervisors, Poultry Inspection Section ANTEMORTEM INSPECTION OF POULTRY Approved by the Director. Wm. D. Termohlen, Director, Poultry Branch. 1. PURPOSE The purpose of this instruction is to establish the procedure and rules for performing antemortem inspection of poultry. II. GENERAL Official plants contracting for antemortem inspection shall keep all live poultry in the plant in batteries or coops of such construction that all poultry will be visible to inspectors and will permit the ready removal of any individual bird for closer examination. In such official plants, all lots of live poultry shall be examined each day, prior to slaughter, even though some of the poultry may not be scheduled for slaughter on that day. While it is not practical to handle and examine each live bird prior to slaughter, it is entirely feasible to visibly examine daily, each battery of birds in the plant. However, if an official plant kills poultry directly from trucks, it will be necessary to make other arrangements for conducting the antemortem inspection. In such instances, the regional supervisor will be responsible for informing the Washington office of the conditions which prevail and he shall make appropriate recommendations to provide for antemortem inspection. (A) Procedure.-Each battery or coop of birds shall be closely examined. Birds which do not appear entirely normal shall be removed from the battery or coop, if this is necessary, to determine the disposition to be made. III. INSTRUCTIONS FOR DISPOSITION OF LIVE POULTRY At the time of antemortem inspection, live birds shall be disposed of in accordance with the following rules. (A) Conditions necessitating condemnation of post-mortem inspection.-All birds plainly showing on antemortem inspection any disease or condition, that under the instructions of the Production and Marketing Administration governing the disposal of diseased carcasses would cause condemnation of their carcasses on postmortem inspection, shall be condemned and disposed of in accordance with paragraph III-D of these instructions. (B) Suspected conditions necessitating condemnation on postmortem Inspection. All birds which on antemortem inspection do not plainly show, but are suspected of being affected with any disease or condition, that under the instructions of the Production and Marketing Administration governing the disposal of diseased carcasses may cause condemnation in whole or in part on postmortem inspection, shall be segregated from the other poultry and held for separate slaughter, evisceration, and postmortem inspection. The inspector shall be notified when such segregated lots are presented for postmortem inspection and inspection of such birds shall be conducted separately. (C) High incidence of acute contagious diseases.-If, upon antemortem inspection, such a large percentage of birds are suspected of being affected by an acute contagious disease that it is impractical to segregate them, the entire lot shall be considered as suspects and shall be submitted for inspection as a lot. Whatever precautions the inspector shall deem necessary will be taken to prevent the spread of any acute contagious disease. Thorough cleaning and disinfection of all batteries used for suspect birds shall be accomplished daily. (D) Condemned live poultry.-All birds which on antemortem inspection are condemned, shall be killed and shall not be dressed, nor shall they be conveyed into any department of the plant used for edible products. Poultry which has been condemned on antemortem inspection shall, under the supervision of an inspector or other authorized agent of the Administration, be denatured with crude carbolic acid or other prescribed agent, or destroyed by incineration. Initiated by: Inspection and Grading Division Poultry Branch Agriculture, Washington. Distribution: Regional supervisors, Dressed poultry inspectors, Poultry Inspection Section, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, INTERNAL NOTICE NO. PY-38 POULTRY DIVISION, Action by: All poultry inspectors, Inspection Branch TRANSMITTAL OF INSTRUCTIONS 918 (PY) ANTEMORTEM SUPPLEMENT No. 1 I. PURPOSE The purpose of this notice is to transmit supplement No. 1 of Instruction 918 (PY) Antemortem 1. This supplement is intended to amplify and clarify ante mortem inspection procedures and outline criteria and guidelines for the performance of such inspection. The ante mortem instructions and memoranda pertaining thereto should be carefully studied and followed by all inspectors of this Branch. II. REPORTS Reporting forms referred to in part IV of this supplement will be furnished all inspectors as soon as they are available. In the meantime, reports of ante mortem inspection must be made in memorandum form and be made out in quadruplicate daily as such inspection may be performed. One copy should be retained by the inspector in charge at the official plant, one given the plant manager and two copies forwarded to the appropriate area supervisor so that he may have a record. The area supervisor will transmit the extra or fourth copy to the Washington office. DAVID L. HUME, Acting Director Poultry Division, American Medical Society. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, POULTRY DIVISION Washington 25, D. C. AMS PY-INSTRUCTION No. 918 Ante Mortem-1, February 28, 1952. Supplement No. 1 Action by: Area supervisors (circuit supervisors, all poultry inspectors, inspection branch ANTE MORTEM INSPECTION OF POULTRY I. PURPOSE The purpose of this instruction is to supplement instruction 918 (PY) Ante Mortem-1 dated February 28, 1952, and to prescribe criteria governing the disposition of clinically ill poultry as determined by ante mortem inspection and outline approved methods of performing ante mortem inspection of poultry. II. AUTHORITY AND POLICY Section 70.151 of the Regulations Governing the Grading and Inspection of Poultry and Edible Products Thereof states, "Ante mortem examination of poultry may be required by the Administrator as a prerequisite to any inspection; and such ante mortem examination shall be carried out under such conditions and in accordance with such methods as may be prescribed or approved by the Administrator." Such ante mortem inspection, when required by the Administrator, shall be performed on the day of slaughter and at an hour as close as practicable to the time of slaughter of given flocks or lots of poultry. III. METHODS OF PERFORMING ANTE MORTEM Under present marketing and slaughtering practices, live poultry is trucked to official plants by truck in coops, baskets, or batteries. A high percent of poultry is hung onto the slaughtering line directly from the truck. Plants not slaughtering off the truck, transfer the poultry from truck to batteries for holding over the night or weekend before moving the poultry to slaughter. In relatively few cases and under special circumstances such as slaughtering certain classes of poultry; namely, ducks, geese, and occasionally turkeys, slaughtering pens may be used. Birds in relatively large numbers are released in pens and hung onto the slaughtering line from these pens. In such cases where use of slaughtering pens is practicable the inspector can observe the birds in a group in motion and at rest for brief intervals of a few moments. In slaughtering off the truck, the inspector shall observe the birds at rest in a line of coops or baskets prior to start of removal of birds for transfer to the slaughtering line. In plants where poultry is held in batteries in a live poultry area or room awaiting slaughtering time, the inspector shall observe the birds at rest in the batteries. Rows of batteries or coops as the case may be shall be so placed as to afford adequate space between them and other equipment for the inspector to freely move about and perform the work. Lighting shall be such that the inspector will be able to see individual birds clearly in the battery compartments. It will be necessary that these same conditions prevail in cases where the inspection is to be made of poultry to be slaughtered off the truck or from slaughtering pens. Coops, batteries and compartments shall not be overloaded but shall contain such numbers of birds as will be in line with good commercial practices and humane methods of transporting and holding live poultry. Individual birds will be handled as observation of clinical symptoms and bird appearance warrant. The inspector will from time to time need to feel the bird's shanks for temperature indications and the breasts for fleshing and state of dehydration. IV. CRITERIA Owing to the fact that inspectors will in most all cases have no history or knowledge of farm or ranch conditions to guide them and no testing and laboratory facilities such as a veterinary practitioner would use in making a diagnosis it will not, in most cases, be possible or practicable to make specific diagnoses of the poultry disease observed at ante mortem inspection. The inspector will record the conditions as suspected of being due to one disease or the other. Only in cases of available adequate flock history and clear-cut symptoms may a vet 89831-57-4 erinary inspector make a specific diagnosis. In general, veterinary and lay inspectors will segregate the birds showing clinical symptoms of disease into four groups: (a) Those in a moribund condition from disease or other cause such as heat stroke or injury due to trauma. (b) Those obviously affected by disease processes to the extent which would result in the slaughtered carcasses being condemned on post mortem inspection. (c) Those which show some clinical symptoms or conditions which warrant their being retained as suspects but not condemned on ante mortem to be slaughtered at the end of a given flock or lot or at the end of the day and subjected to post mortem inspection for final disposition. (d) Special consideration group: Special consideration in handling poultry in this group is necessary because of the disease being directly transmissable to man. Ornithosis, New Castle disease and swine erysipelis affected birds are examples of this special and fourth group. For a complete list of this special group see section 5, AMS instruction 918, post mortem-5. Birds in a state of ill health to the extent mentioned in groups (a) and (b) shall be condemned on ante mortem inspection, be humanely killed and denatured or otherwise treated as prescribed for treatment of carcasses and parts condemned at post mortem inspection. The method of killing the condemned birds shall be such as to prevent bleeding onto the floor or equipment, the best way being to disjoint the neck at the joint nearest the head by a quick strong pull sharply backward and downward which will separate the cervical joint, the spinal cord, and large blood vessels in the area but leave the neck skin intact. The bird will partially bleed out into the subcutaneous and surrounding separated tissues. Condemnations shall be recorded according to the symptoms manifested under the heading of: (1) Respiratory disorders; (2) central nerve disorders; (3) cripples due to severe injury in handling or suffered during movement to market: (4) other causes. Other causes may be explained as to suspected nature of the disease condition in the space on the report form under the heading of remarks. Records of birds segregated as "suspects" shall show indications of suspected condition according to symptoms manifested and be recorded under the heading of: (1) Respiratory disorders; (2) central nerve disorders; (3) fungal or parasitic conditions; (4) abscesses or suppurative sores; (5) other causes. In the space provided for remarks the ante mortem inspector shall make such remarks regarding symptoms and evidences of ill health as will be helpful to the post mortem inspectors. Birds to be segregated as suspects and handled as outlined in part IV (c) above are those showing any of the following symptoms or conditions or any combination of such symptoms or conditions: (a) Dirty ruffled feathers; (b) swellings about the head and eyes or discharges from the eyes or nostrils; (c) lack of alertness or brightness of eyes i. e., not showing normal prominence or luster, or the eyes may be off shape or off color such as showing cloudy cornea or pupil ; (d) gaping or sneezing; (e) off-color diarrhea or collection of fecal material on feathers about the vent; (f) skin lesions about the head and neck; (g) suppurating sores or visi-swellings on body surfaces; (h) pinched appearing dehydrated shanks and those cold to the touch; (i) birds markedly lacking in esh (referred to as “going light"); (j) birds that show lack of thrift and well being by their posture and reluctance to move in response to natural stimulae ; (k) birds which show central nerve disorders such as wry neck conditions or lack of other muscular coordination in movement; (7) lameness; (m) birds may emit abnormal sickly squawk or sounds when disturbed or handled. DAVID L. HUME, Acting Director, Poultry Division, American Medical Society. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE To: All poultry inspectors. From: Daniel De Camp, Assistant Chief, Inspection Branch, Poultry Division, Washington, D. C. Subject: Ante mortem inspection-Consideration of birds suspected of being affected with ornithosis. In general, the clinical symptoms of birds affected with "ornithosis" are indistinguishable from those affected with C. R. D., New Castle disease, and low-grade |