Catani v. Swift & Co.

Citations

• 251 Pa. 52
• 95 A. 931
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 634

Syllabus

<p>Negligence■ — Sales—Diseased meat — Packers liability to consumer — Act of Congress of June SO, 1906, c. 8915, SJj U. S. Stat 768 — Case for jury.</p> <p>1. Where meat is sold by a packer to a retail dealer there is an implied warranty that it is free from disease, wholesome and fit to eat, and where the dealer sells the meat in the original packages such warranty extends to the consumer, who may recover directly from the packer for injury resulting from the diseased condition of the food.</p> <p>2. It is no defense to such suit that the meat was inspected and approved by the United States government officials under the provision of the Act of Congress of June 30, 1906, c. 3915, 34 U. S. Stat. 768. The packer’s duty to inspect, imposed by the common law, is absolute.</p> <p>3. In an action for the death of plaintiff’s husband resulting from trichinosis, which he contracted from eating diseased pork sold by defendant packer to a dealer and by the dealer sold to plaintiff in the original package, the case was for the jury and the entry of judgment for defendant n. o. v. was error.</p> <p>Mr. Chief Justice Brown dissents.</p>