86 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



CANNING AQUATIC FOODS 



As discussed in the 1934 report of this Division, our general program 

 of tiie development of suitable and safe methods of home canning 

 various commercially important hsh and shellfish has been continued. 

 During the past year, two reports on this work have been prepared. 

 One is I^isheries' Memorandum S-338, entitled "Home Canning of 

 Fish", by Norman D. Jarvis, assistant technologist, and Dr. Francis 

 P. GrifFiths, junior bacteriologist. The other report is entitled 'The 

 Home Canning of Fishery Products", by Norman D. Jarvis and Francis 

 P. Griffiths. I'his latter report was pubhshed as Fisheries' Investi- 

 gational Report No. 34, early in 1936. It contains methods recom- 

 mended for canning salmon, shad, mackerel, lake trout, whitefish, 

 mullet, clams, shrimp, and various fish specialties. 



In addition, experimental packs during 1935 have included clam 

 chowder, clam broth, canned cooked salt mackerel (plain and in 

 tomato sauce), mackerel tuna style, mullet in tomato sauce, concen- 

 trated salmon chowder, crab gumbo, and crab creole. With respect 

 to these latter two products, there is still the problem of discoloration 

 when an attempt is made to pack the crab meat straight, that is, 

 without any other ingredients or mixtures. Therefore, attention was 

 devoted to working out formulae and methods for products in which 

 crab meat forms only a portion ol the contents and the possibility of 

 discoloration of the finished product is correspondingly reduced. 

 Success in eliminating discoloration of canned crab meat has been 

 found in the development of such canned products as deviled crab, 

 crab gumbo, and crab creole. Prospects seem favorable for develop- 

 ing methods suitable lor canning at least two of these products on a 

 commercial scale. 



Some experimental packs of razor clams received from New England 

 have been made. From preliminary data, it appears that a canned 

 minced clam of good quality can be prepared from the New England 

 razor clam. This shellfish at present is used only as fish bait. 



During the past year, a study was begun of existing commercial 

 methods for canning aquatic products with the view toward bringing 

 up to date in a compact report the best technical information avail- 

 able on the subject. As this report will cover a wide field, the 

 compiling of the data will require considerable time to complete. 



During the latter part of 1935, our technologist in charge of experi- 

 mental canning was detailed to assist the North Carolina Fisheries, 

 Inc., Morehead City, N. C, a cooperative organization of North 

 Carolina fishermen, in constructing and operating equipment in their 

 plant for the handling and preservation of fish. This included assist- 

 ance in developing methods and equipment for handling fresh fish, 

 the smoking and salting of fish, and the canning of fishery products. 



BACTERIOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Our bacteriological studies have been closely correlated with other 

 investigations of our technological staff as many of these problems 

 require a knowledge of the action of bacteria. These bacteriological 

 investigations have included examinations of the experimental packs 

 of canned fishery products to determine which processes produce 



