124 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



both claws and tail. The tail curled up tightly and was 

 springy. It was frozen at -20° F. for forty-eight hours. 



Similarly, complete lobsters were cooled at 60° F. after 

 heat treatment and then frozen at -30° F. for twenty-four 

 hours. Before storage they were given a glaze of a spray 

 of water. 



After three months' storage at -20°F., all samples except 

 those completely cooked prior to freezing had good texture 

 and flavor, and compared very favorably with freshly cooked 

 lobster. The meat from claws that had been completely 

 cooked prior to freezing was found to be fibrous and mealy 

 in texture, and possessed a flavor inferior to that of fresh- 

 cooked lobster meat. The tail section alone, either heat- 

 treated or completely cooked and treated in 2 per cent salt 

 brine, had a longer storage life than the whole lobster. 1 



Anti-biotics. In the March 17, 1956, issue of The Saturday 

 Evening Post appeared an article " New Ways to Keep Food 

 Fresh." 



It tells of a refrigerated truckload with carcasses of 

 thirty freshly killed steers to be trucked three hundred miles 

 to Santiago, Cuba. While still two hundred miles away, the 

 truck and its refrigerating unit broke down. It stayed by the 

 side of the road all the first night, all the second day in the 

 blazing sun, and the second night and most of the third day. 

 Upon arrival it was, of course, expected that all of the meat 

 would be putrid. And half of it was, but the fifteen car- 

 casses of the other half were good, and surprisingly fresh. 

 These fifteen steers had been injected with an anti-biotic 

 (aureomycin) solution (only a few parts per million) im- 

 mediately after slaughtering. (In later tests the injection 

 came before slaughtering.) This chemical was developed 

 largely through Dr. Hugh Tarr, at the Pacific Fisheries Ex- 

 perimental Station, in a search for a preservative for fish. 

 Aureomycin was mixed in tiny amounts in the water to be 

 frozen into ice and flaked for packing. A whole, ungutted 

 fish was packed in this ice, and at the end of twelve days 



See " Processing Lobster and Lobster Meat for Freezing and Storage " (Btd- 



