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U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Some months ago, one of the bureau's biochemists was assigned 

 to a cooperative research project in the laboratories of the South 

 CaroHna Food Research Commission at Charleston, S. C, in which a 

 study is being made of the mineral content of oysters with a relation 

 to the prevention and cure of nutritional anemia. Copper, man- 

 ganese, and iron are the mineral elements inviting special attention 

 in this connection. Samples of oysters are being procured from locali- 

 ties representing as far as possible the entire United States at different 

 seasons of the year. This project will require at least a year for 

 completion. 



Recently considerable interest has been shown in fish flour — a 

 product at the present time being prepared experimentally from the 



Figure 4. — Portion of fisheries nutrition laboratory 



edible parts, including the backbone, of fish remaining from the 

 filleting or packaged fish industry. This product is dried at a low 

 temperature, under vacuum, and ground into a fine meal or flour. 

 It has a pleasant taste and odor, as well as an attractive appear- 

 ance. It can be made cheaply, as it comes from raw material which 

 is now either a waste or is converted into fish meal for animal feeding. 

 It may contain as high as 28 to 30 per cent of minerals, consisting 

 largely of calcium and phosphorus. Laboratory investigations and 

 baking tests, conducted by the Cereal Laboratory of the Bureau of 

 Chemistry and Soils in cooperation with this bureau, have demon- 

 strated that it is possible to incorporate 10 to 25 per cent of this fish 

 flour in bakery products, of a palatable and nutritious nature, de- 

 signed especially to appeal to children. Fish flour should be of con- 

 siderable value in bone growth. Arrangements have been made with 

 a public institution to make a special study of fish flour in the diet of 

 children. Cooperation of the District of Columbia medical and dental 



