160 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
States must be very similar to those that would be obtained elsewhere, 
both with the same kinds of fish and with others that are suitable 
for canning as sardines. For this reason the principles worked out 
from the experiments and the recommendations given apply in 
general elsewhere. The new process offers fully as many advantages 
to foreign producers of sardines as to those in this country. 
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES 
The more important advantages and disadvantages of the new 
process are summarized below: 
ADVANTAGES 
The quality of the fish prepared is excellent, giving in the long run 
a better product than frying in oil or steaming. The process adds 
no foreign product such as old fry-bath oil, which detracts from the 
quality of the final product; nor does it remove large amounts of 
oil and soluble extractives (including salt previously added in brining) 
as steaming does. The loss of these substances detracts considerably 
from the flavor and food value of the product. 
The process is rapid, cooking and drying the fish in 15 minutes or 
less, which is a fourth to a fifth the time now ordinarily used in 
Maine and California. By combining cooling in a blast of cool air 
with cooking, the fish can be cooled, ready for packing, in about 15 
minutes, making the whole preparation, including packing, continu- 
ous. In California this eliminates the usual overnight cooling and 
draining for pound-oval fish. 
While the fish are being cooked and dried they can also be lightly 
smoked at slight additional cost, giving a much more rapid and labor- 
saving process for preparing smoked sardines than any now used. 
Less labor is required for preparing the fish than for the processes 
now practiced. Use of the continuous cooking, cooling, and packing 
process developed should effect savings in labor. 
The new process will prevent the disagreeable odor that prevails 
in a factory where fish are fried in oil, and will also eliminate most of 
the oil that is unavoidably spread about the factory. 
Space required for preparing the fish is less than that for any 
other process. 
The cost of preparing the fish on a large scale by the new process 
will be less than for frying in oil and possibly no greater than for 
steaming, as carried out in Maine. 
DISADVANTAGES 
Adoption of the new process in existing factories requires the 
scrapping of most of the equipment actually used in preparing the 
fish and the installation of relatively new equipment. It is believed, 
however, that the advantages to be gained from the new process are 
sufficient to warrant such action. In new factories installation of the 
new equipment will be but little more expensive. 
The cost of preparing Maine herring may be a little greater than 
by the steaming process. 
Flake marks upon the fish will tend to be more pronounced with 
the new process than with frying in oil. 
