One of the principal advantages of handling the loins instead of 

 the whole tuna is the reduction in shipping costs. Since the "waste" 

 portion of the v^ole tuna is ranoved in Japan there is a substantial 

 decrease in shipping weight. Frozen raw loins also represent some 

 savings to the tuna canneries, for the butchering operation and at 

 least a part of the usual cleaning operation required for vhole tuna 

 is eliminated. However, the frozen raw loins must still be thawed, 

 precooked, and partially cleaned. The raw loins received at a United 

 States cannery wei*e reported to contain some dark meat and skin. This 

 product upon entry into the United States is dutiable at I5 cents per 

 pound o 



The yield of canned tuna from frozen raw loins is reported to be 

 approximately 73 standard cases per ton. 



FROZEN COOKED HJNA LOINS 



Frozen cooked tuna (albacore) loins is another recent and perhaps 

 more premising new tuna product to be shipped to the United States for 

 canning. The Japanese have sent limited (experimental) quantities of 

 the cooked and cleaned loins to tuna canneries in California, where they 

 have been processed into an acceptable canned product. 



In Japan, the frozen cooked loins are prepared as follows: V/hole 

 (round) tuna are first headed and gutted (entrails removed) and then 

 boiled for approximately 30 minutes (depending on size). After cooling, 

 the tails and fins are removed and the skin is scraped away. Four 

 fillets are then cut from the backbone and the dark flesh triinned off. 

 The cleaned filletSj, or loins, are then frozen, (but not glazed) in- 

 dividually wrapped in parchment paper, and packed in cardboard or wooden 

 boxes vrfiich hold about 50 pounds. Each box contains between ten and 

 fifteen loins, depending on the size of the fish, and is double strapped 

 prior to shipping o The recovery of cleaned loins is reported to be 

 30 to 40 percent. 



In the United States, the imported frozen loins are first thawed 

 by removing them from the wooden boxes and replacing in tuna baskets 

 for approximately 24 hours. They are then ranoved from the baskets, un- 

 wrapped and fed into the processing machines in the same manner as with 

 domestically cleaned fish. Since there is no cleaning of any kind 

 necessary on the imported loins there should be no waste from this pro- 

 duct. However, it is understood that on shipments received so far there 

 has been approximately a 10 percent loss on the loins due to oxidation of 



308 



