I'm old enough to remember the sides, or more likely quarters, being carried from the truck into the grocery store on someone's shoulder.  Part of the time the guy packing it would have on a clean white coat, other times they would just throw a white cloth around the piece of carcass and away they went. 

Wasn't there a particular highway corner or an overpass in KC that was disastorous to trucks with 'swingin meat'?