despite his requests, the army was dedicated to supporting the chicago meatpacking industry, which eventually shipped hundreds of tons of refrigerated and canned beef to the army from the mainland. in his testimony before the court of inquiry, general miles referred to the refrigerated product as "embalmed beef," and provided the court with a letter from an army medical officer describing the product. "[m]uch of the beef i examined arriving on the transports from the united states ... [was] apparently preserved by injected chemicals to aid deficient refrigeration," the medical officer wrote. "it looked well, but had an odor similar to that of a dead human body after being injected with formaldehyde, and it tasted when first cooked like decomposed boric acid ..."