122 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



RESEARCH WORK ON MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS. 



THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT BY DRYING. 



Although many vegetables and other foods are dried successfully, 

 very little work has been done on the problem of drying meats 

 Work has been undertaken, therefore, to study the various methods 

 used for drying other foods and to apply these methods to the drying 

 of meats. The condition of the meat, both with relation to physical 

 properties and palatability, has been studied. Work carried out in 

 cooperation with the Bureau of Chemistry has resulted in dried meat 

 which when mixed with dried vegetables has been used to form a 

 "dried Irish stew" which is no.w being tested by the Army. 



SUBSTITUTES FOR MEAT PRODUCTS FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES. 



Investigations have been undertaken with a view to conserving 

 meats and meat products for food purposes by determining the 

 amounts of such products that are used in industries and by devel- 

 oping suitable inedible substitutes. The field is large and it is 

 impossible to cover it all from the beginning. The first investigation 

 relates to the use of inedible animal fats for industrial purposes, 

 including the use of edible lard oil as an ingredient of signal oil, which 

 is largely for use in the hand lanterns of railway trainmen. Certain 

 inedible oils may be used successfully as substitutes, yet they are for 

 the most part unavailable in sufficient quantities. This problem is 

 receiving careful study. 



PREVENTING WASTE OF MATERIALS IN CURING MEATS. 



Sugar, saltpeter, and common salt are used in the curing of meats. 

 Both sugar and saltpeter are scarce and very important, tiie first for 

 food, the other for use in the production of explosives and fertilizers. 

 It has been found that when meats are cured in pickle, slightly less 

 than one-half of the sugar, salt, and saltpeter is taken up by the 

 meats, the balance remaining in the pickle. It is estimated tnat there 

 are used annually in the curing of meats in the United States 13,700,- 

 000 pounds of sugar and 2,272,000 pounds of saltpeter, one-half of 

 whicn ordinarily is lost during the process of curmg. Studies are 

 being directed particularly^ toward the salvage of the sugar and salt- 

 peter which remain unused in pickle after the curing of meats, and 

 toward finding a satisfactory suDstitute for sugar in i^ieat curing. 



TUBERCULIN AND MALLEIN 



There were furnished to various Federal, State, county, and city 

 officials 803,317 doses of tuberculin for testing cattle for tuberculosis 

 and to officials, including the War Department, there were furnished 

 1,736,852 doses of ophthalmic mallein for testing horses and mules for 

 glanders. These amounts represent increased production of 33 and 

 more than 400 per cent, respectively. 



The laboratory studies of tuberculin have been continued, and 

 more than 2,500 doses of ophthalmic tubercuhn in disk form, with 

 9,140 doses of intradermal tuberculin, have been (Hstributed to field 

 inspectors of the bureau for experimental purposes. 



