114 U. 8. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
cooked they are barely warmed during the short drying period, and 
decomposition ceases when the fish are cooked. 
STORING AND SHIPPING TESTS 
In considering the merits of any process account must be taken of 
the storing and shipping qualities of the packs produced. The 
product must stand up well. Pound-oval sardines prepared by 
frying in oil proved excellent in this respect. In the average canner’s 
mind, however, it seems very doubtful whether packs produced by 
methods other than frying in oil would be satisfactory. The raw- 
packed and steamed sardines produced during the World War period 
were poor in this respect. Many of these packs became a mushy 
mass when handled in the same way as fried sardines. Although 
these bad results undoubtedly were due to improper preparation of 
the fish, nevertheless it was necessary to prove that properly prepared 
products would stand up well before the canners would even con- 
sider using any process other than frying in oil. The various packs 
were therefore subjected to rather severe storage and shipping tests 
in comparison with similar fried-in-oil packs, many of which were 
prepared from the same lots of fish, both by regular canners and in 
the laboratory. The general results of this work are discussed here.” 
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 
In general, all packs withstood the storing and shipping tests about 
equally well, whether prepared by frying in “oil or other wise, provided 
they were properly prepared for canning. On the other hand, when 
the necessary precautions were not taken to get the fish into good 
physical condition for canning, they disintegrated more or less. 
Only a very few cans from the different packs definitely spoiled— 
that is, ‘‘swelled”’ from the formation of putrefactive gases. During 
the third year of storage a large number of cans of pound-oval, 
tomato-sauce sardines did ‘‘swell,”’ due to the formation of hydrogen, 
probably from the action of the acids in the sauce upon the metal of 
the cans. In other ways the contents appeared to be normal. 
The fish, however, had acquired a slightly bitter taste, probably 
due to metal salts. Most cans in every pack that was 3 years old 
were affected. It was noticed, too, that as time went on the cans 
became quite badly “detinned.” Fish packed in oil, however, did 
not acquire the bitter taste, nor did the cans “‘detin” to a pronounced 
degree. 
Occasionally among normal cans of the different packs that were 
2 to 3 years old there was found a can in which the fish had softened 
badly, otherwise the contents appeared normal. In extreme cases 
the outline of the individual fish could hardly be distinguished. I 
can give no explanation for this action. Probably it was due to 
some sort of bacterial activity. 
40 Details of the tests made with the various packs are given on p. 190. 


