Man's Theory: Kill the Pig Before It Squeals

1906

To Make Perfect Pork

Method of Slaughtering Which Insures Wholesome Meat

A Kansas City man has discovered a novel method of preparing pork for the market in a way that will give to the people a meat which is perfectly wholesome. The theory is advanced that when a pig is sent to slaughter every squeal emitted in the process of slaughter is an audible announcement of a nervous reaction that affects every fiber of its body, producing such changes as will he detrimental to any one partaking of the flesh. The plan proposed is to drive the porker up an incline into a small pen. Just as he steps in the pen the platform tilts and runs him down a chute. At the end of this chute there is a bucket of slop or mash, or any other pig delicacy. The animal pokes his snout into the bucket when his whole head is caught in a trap and nitrous oxide renders him unconscious before he has time to let out even a little squeal. While the pig is in this state it is slaughtered, There is no excitement, no squeal and consequently no thermic changes.

—Denton Journal, Denton, Maryland, January 6, 1906, page 4.