DRESSING OR BJTCHERING 



Butchering of tuna takes place along a butchering table. Frequently 

 a slat conveyor belt, 30 to 36 inches -wide^ carries the tuna along such 

 a table, and the various operations are conducted by men stationed, along 

 one or both sides of this table <, A small plant might have as few as 

 three men at such a butchering table o The first man would slij> open 

 the fish and remove the viscera„ The second nan would wash the fish body 

 cavity, smell the fish to reject any spoiled tuna, and remove any bits 

 of :</'iscera overlooked by the first butcher. The third man would load 

 fish into the baskets for precookingo A somewhat larger plant might 

 have three men stationed on each side of the table carrying out these 

 operations. In the ana Her plants the butchering tables are not usually 

 equipped with the moving belt conveyor. 



In still larger plants more men are onployed, A typical set-up 

 in such a plant might include one man to operate the flume to divert 

 fish to the butchering table, a man to check on the degree of thawing 

 and divert still frozen fish to thawing tank or space, a third man to 

 butcher the fish, a fourth man to raiiove livers from the viscera, a 

 fifth man to wash and smell the fish, and two or three basket fillers. 

 In the larger plants two butchering crews, one working from each side 

 of the butchering table, are often used. 



In some plants the butchering table is on casters and can be moved 

 about wherever it is handiest for the day's operation. The portable table 

 is quite efficient vrtiere floor thawing is used as the table can be pushed 

 directly into the individual piles of fish. 



The cost of butchering is hard to estimate because of the practice 

 in many plants of having butchers assist in other operations in the plant. 

 Possibly an estimate of $2.00 per ton, covering all steps of the butcher- 

 ing process until the fish are placed in the baskets, would be about aver- 

 age. Same plants estimated butchering costs to be as high as $5oOO per 

 ton but in such cases the butchers usually assisted in other operations 

 about the plant. 



There seems little that can be done to improve efficiency of the 

 butchering operations. The labor cost for this step is relatively low, 

 and installation of complicated butchering equipment would not seem 

 warranted even if it would be developed unless it were contemplated to 

 change the entire tuna canning procedure. 



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