ABOUT LOBSTERS 125 



was beautiful and edible. (Untreated fish at 40° F. was sus- 

 picious after three days, and reeked after five. ) 



Gutted chickens have been similarly treated with equal- 

 ly astonishing results. Notice that, while the steers were 

 treated by pumping the anti-biotic through their blood ves- 

 sels, both the fish and the chickens received their treatment 

 from the outside and from the crushed ice. It is surprising 

 how the chemical penetrated through the scales of the fish. 



The benefits of anti-biotic treatment to lobster will be 

 great when it can be accomplished. 



Experiments in Canada were tried by immersing for a 

 half-hour in an ice-cold anti-biotic solution whole lobsters 

 as they came from the cooker. With a strong solution, lob- 

 sters were kept fresh to sixteen days while the untreated or 

 control lobsters were spoiled on the eleventh day. Another 

 gain is that such treated boiled lobsters could be shipped 

 refrigerated by dry ice. Dry ice vapors (CO2) will kill a 

 living lobster. Compared with ice for refrigerant this would 

 be a reduction in weight, and a reduction of damage from 

 the spilling of the melted ice water ( especially for airplane 

 shipment ) . 



The experiments on treated steers and chickens have 

 been made on degutted animals, but it is not practical to 

 degut a lobster. Experiments have been conducted at the 

 plant of Consolidated Lobster Company to find a way to 

 make the anti-biotic reach all through a lobster including 

 its gut. The obvious approach is to inject the chemical into 

 the blood stream of the living lobster, to be carried to all 

 parts of its body. Injecting by a hypodermic needle is im- 

 practical, so the experiment was made by coating lobster 

 plugs with aureomycin either as a powder stuck on with 

 molasses (air dried) or with a very strong solution. The 

 lobsters were killed by steam after allowing twenty minutes 

 for the blood to circulate. Steam was used because it will 

 kill the lobster without cooking it, and heating the anti-biotic 

 will largely destroy its effectiveness. The lobster had to be 

 killed since its normal bowel movement would eliminate the 

 chemical after a few days. 



