industry solve these problems is my next 

 topic for discussion. 



One approach might have been to take 

 each of the problems as I have outlined 

 them and set up a series of Bureau projects 

 to find solutions. This, however, we have 

 felt is not the proper manner of giving 

 Government assistance to the industry. 

 Most of the problems I have outlined are 

 ones for which, in the final analysis, 

 industry must find solutions. We have 

 felt that in most instances Government 

 can best aid by carrying out basic re- 

 search to provide a background of ideas 

 which will be useful to the tuna process- 

 ing industry in solving its own specific 

 problems. In a few special instances we 

 have been following up some of this basic 

 research with very limited applied re- 

 search before leaving the industry to work 

 out specific applications of their inter- 

 est, based on the results of our rt search. 



Some of the basic research programs 

 currently under way have been set up in a 

 broad fashion to cover chemical reactions 

 or other problems common to more than one 

 species of fish. Thus, Bureau technolog- 

 ical programs oi value to the tuna process- 

 ing industry are by no means limited to 

 those which were set up to work exclusively 

 upon this species. One such program was 

 started eight years ago at the Seattle 

 Fishery Technological Laboratory to learn 

 more about the proximate composition of 

 fish. 



A better knowledge of the chemical 

 composition of fish is important in order 

 to know just what we are dealing with in 

 solving technological problems Especially, 

 it will determine the nutritive value of 

 the product. Information on composition 

 relating to nutritive value can be used 

 for advertising the fact that tuna is a 

 well balanced food containing the various 

 nutritive components in generous amounts 

 and also as background information for use 

 in devising such special products as 

 dietetic, geriatric, or baby food packs. 



The program on proximate composition 

 at the Seattle laboratory which during 

 the past several years has been concerned 

 with fresh-water fish and certain species 

 of the Pacific Northwest, such as halibut, 

 has this year shifted its main emphasis 

 to tuna, and extensive work on this species 



is planned for the next two years. Supple- 

 menting this program is work at the tuna 

 field station at Terminal Island to deter- 

 mine certain analytical constants for tuna 

 at different stages of processing. Certain 

 tests are used for quality control purposes, 

 such as the TBA test for rancidity or the 

 volatile base test for freshness. The re- 

 lationship between the values corresponding 

 to different stages of freshness for raw, 

 precooked, and canned tuna is being worked 

 out in this program. 



Tuna Oil 



The most comprehensive basic Bureau 

 program of importance to the tuna industry 

 concerns the chemical composition and re- 

 actions of fish oils including tuna oils. 

 This program was set up with the long-term 

 objective of developing new industrial uses 

 for such oils with the concurrent accumula- 

 tion of basic information which will help 

 in solving various other processing and 

 preservation problems. This program is 

 carried out partly at the Bureau' s Seattle 

 Technological Laboratory which coordinates 

 all programs dealing with fish oils and 

 partly on contract at laboratories of the 

 Universities of California and Minnesota. 



Historically, fish oils have been used 

 for the manufacture of soap and paint and 

 more recently have been exported to 

 European markets for use in margarine. 

 As a result of research in the chemical 

 industry, markets for fish oils in soap 

 and paint have dwindled to a point where 

 these are no longer important. Thus, in 

 the case of paints, research has developed 

 substitutes for oils in the form of syn- 

 thetic alkyd resins and rubber base 

 materials. Similarly, the development of 

 synthetic detergents has greatly reduced 

 the demand for fish oils for use in soaps. 

 This has left fish oils only one large 

 outlet, the European margarine field. 



A situation where there is only one 

 important market for a raw material such 

 as fish oils is a very bad one since it 

 encourages wide fluctuations in price 

 with the danger that should the one mar- 

 ket condition change, the price might 

 collapse completely. For this reason 

 alternate important uses for fish oils 

 are badly needed. 



The same type of research which 



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