REFRIGERATION OF FISH 631 



It is the consensus of opinion of those who are experienced in this 

 kind of storage that fresh fish on ice maintain a better appearance if 

 the temperature of the room is slightly above the melting point of 

 ice, so that the fish are kept wet. If the room is too cold, the 

 ice does not melt and the surface of the fish becomes dry. A temper- 

 ature of 33° or 34° F. will allow the ice to melt very slowly. Such 

 rooms are subject to the drip of condensed moisture from the walls 

 and ceilings and sometimes the pipes; it is advisable, therefore, to 

 place the fish or arrange drip pans so that the water does not drip 

 on the stored goods. 



Mild-cured salmon are held in some freezers at 30° to 32° F. ; 

 others hold them at slightly higher temperatures, ranging up to 38° 



The writer has chilled (that is, partly frozen) lake trout in brine, 

 packed them in ice, and stored them at 28° F. for three weeks. They 

 remained somewhat stiffened, but not hard, and were entirely good 

 at the end of this time, though, as stated above, the skin was some- 

 what dry. On the other hand, haddock fillets frozen in 10-pound 

 blocks were kept 6 weeks in a chamber in which the temperature was 

 thermostatically regulated at 28°. At the end of that time the fillets 

 were distinctly sour. 



HOLDING LIVE FISH BY REFRIGERATION 



It is known that many species of fish hibernate in winter ; that is, 

 they become inactive under the influence of low temperature, con- 

 sume no food, and lie dormant for a long time. Carp have been 

 known to be inclosed in solid ice and survive. (The freezing point 

 of fish is lower than that of water, so that it is possible for fish to be 

 inclosed in ice without themselves freezing. ) Mir and Audige 9S de- 

 vised a method of taking advantage of these facts by inducing hiber- 

 nation artifically. The fish are held in tanks of aerated water, 

 chilled to the freezing point. The fish become torpid. The water is 

 then slowly frozen around them, care being taken not to lower the 

 temperature below 32° F. The fish remain alive, dormant, and sur- 

 rounded by solid ice, and if released by careful defrosting will still 

 live. Oxygen must be present and available in small quantity, else 

 the fish will suffocate, for they require a slight amount of oxygen to 

 sustain life processes. This does not appear to be a practicable com- 

 mercial procedure, though it might be useful in certain instances. 



COLD-STORAGE LAWS 



In the United States the power to regulate the holding of foods 

 in storage remains with the States, several of which have enacted 

 regulatory laws. No Federal cold-storage law has been enacted up to 

 the time of this writing. Bills have been introduced in several ses- 

 sion's of Congress, providing for regulation, under the interstate com- 

 merce clause of the Constitution, of conditions under which cold- 

 storage foods may enter interstate commerce. As frozen fish are so 

 often shipped from State to State, such a law, if enacted, would have 

 the practical effect of bringing all fish freezers and cold-storage ware- 



88 E. Mir and J. Audige, " Le transport des poissons congel£s." Bulletin do la Soci€t€ 

 d'Aquiculture et de Peche, tome 25. pp. 7-14. Paris, 1913. 



