PACIFIC FISHERMAN 



77 



THE CANNING PROCESS. 

 On being delivered at the cannery 

 the fish are placed in hanging racks to 

 drain the blood and insure the white- 

 ness of the meat. Red color, the fetish 

 of the salmon industry, is not aspired 

 to by the tuna packers who make a 

 considerable point of the whiteness of 

 their product. After draining, the fish 

 are placed on trays in a large low pres- 

 sure retort where they are baked in 

 live steam. As the fish usually arrive 

 at the plant in the evening or late 

 afternoon the night is generally de- 

 voted to this stage of the process. 



Next morning the baked fish are 

 transferred from the retorts to the fill- 

 ing tables. Before the meat enters 

 the cans it is carefully carved, the 

 bones, skin and dark meat being re- 

 moved. The white meat, which is kept 

 as nearly whole as posible, passes to 

 the filling crew which fills each can 

 with solid meat. In addition to the 

 pinch of salt used, a small quantity of 

 oil is placed in each can prior to fill- 

 ing to supply the lack of natural oil in 

 the fish. Olive oil was originally used 

 for this purpose, but in 1913 all the 

 plants save one had discontinued this 

 practice and substituted cottonseed 

 oil, which, it is claimed, has given 

 equal satisfaction. Pish so packed, it 

 might be added, are labelled "Packed 

 with salad oil." 



The solderless process is employed 

 almost exclusively in the tuna indus- 

 try so that from the filling tables the 

 cans proceed to the topper, thence 

 through the exhaust box to retorts, 

 similar to those employed in the sal- 

 mon trade, where it is cooked again in 

 steam under pressure. 



It will be noted that the process is 

 unusual in that the fish are cooked be- 

 fore being placed in the can, reheated 

 in the exhaust box and cooked again 

 in the retort. That this combination 

 is effective is apparent from the fact 

 that the product is palatable, pleasing 

 to the eye and of a fine white grain, 

 not unlike the breast of chicken. 



It might be mentioned here that the 

 loss between the round fish and the 

 finished product is considerable owing 

 not only to the fact that a third of the 

 weight is lost in dresing, but because 

 only the select portions of the meat are 

 utilized. In San Pedro, particularly, 

 the disposal of this waste has been 

 accomplished in a very satisfactory 

 way by the sale of the offal to several 

 local fertilizer manufacturers. 



In 1914 several of the canneries 

 packed some of the dark meat, and as 

 as it met with a good reception from 

 the consuming trade, it is probable 

 that all will soon be packed in cans. 



OTHER FORMS OF PREPARATION. 



A few of the canning companies 

 have experimented in the packing of 

 Long Fin tuna in other forms. Kip- 

 pered tuna is an exceptionally palata- 

 ble product and is said to be finding a 

 ready sale locally. It has been noted 

 before that in the canning only solid 

 sections of meat are placed in the 

 cans. This waste has already attract- 

 ed the attention of one company which 

 is planning to utilize the broken but 



equally palatable bits of tuna by press- 

 ing them into cakes to be sold in sealed 

 packages at a lower cost. Shipments 

 of frozen tuna have been made to 

 the Chicago market with excellent re- 

 sults. 



PROPER IDENTIFICATION OF THE 

 CALIFORNIA PRODUCT. 



There seems to be little doubt but 

 that the California product is right- 

 fully entitled to the use of the name 

 "tuna." While it is also known as 

 Albacore, this term has less current 

 usage. The California product is now 

 being marketed both as "tuna" and 

 "tunny." The last may be considered 

 less desirable, since it might lay the 

 packer open to the charge of endea- 

 voring to represent his product as be- 

 ing that of the Mediterranean. The 

 writer hastens to add in all justice to 

 those who employ this designation 

 that there appears to be little danger 

 of confusing the imported and domes- 

 tic product, owing to the different con- 

 ditions prevailing in the two fisheries 

 and the divergence in the methods of 

 preparation. The examination of prac- 

 tically all the labels under which Cali- 

 fornia tuna is being marketed shows 

 that with characteristic native pride 

 the origin of the product is promi- 

 nently indicated. The single excep- 

 tion to this so far brought to the at- 

 tention of the writer was a label in 

 Japanese, issuing not from any of the 

 regular packers, but from a Japanese 

 concern of doubtful parentage which 

 is not known to operate a packing 

 plant. This label, it might be added, 

 was withdrawn as the result of the 

 protest of an American canner on 

 whose trade marked product it in- 

 fringed. The use of "tuna" in prefer- 

 ence to "tunny" seems to have the 

 advantage of avoiding confusion. 



In connection with the rumored mis- 

 impression that the canners were util- 

 izing the Leaping and Yellow Fin tuna 

 as well as the Long Fin the packers 

 point out that the meat of these latter 

 fish in no way resembles that of the 

 former. They state that it would be 

 impossible to successfully substitute 

 one for the other and that to intro- 

 duce a number of grades of a new 

 product simultaneously would result 

 only in unprofitable confusion and sus- 

 picion among the buyers. Another 

 potent reason is that they have no de- 

 sire to antagonize the game fishing ele- 

 ment of the state, which is well or- 

 ganized and powerful in legislative 

 matters. 



FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY. 



The future of the industry seems to 

 depend upon the existence of a suffi- 

 cient supply of raw material rather 

 than on the limitations of the market, 

 which is increasing rapidly from year 

 to year. In view of the present lack 

 of information concerning the Long 

 Fin packers are frank in saying that 

 they do not know the extent to which 

 their business may develop without 

 depleting the supply. They do state, 

 however, that fishing operations do 

 not appear so far to have had any ap- 

 preciable effect on the supply of fish. 



The successful extension of tuna 



packing operations will mean much 

 commercially to the state. Califor- 

 nia's principal fishery products now 

 reach the market largely in a fresh 

 state and as a consequence few manu- 

 facturing enterprises are built upon 

 her fisheries. 



The outlook for this industry seems, 

 on the whole, a very bright one, and 

 the progress made so far has earned 

 for it serious consideration. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The fact most patent to the observ- 

 er in this field, as previously intimat- 

 ed, is the lack of any definite informa- 

 tion, or for that matter any reason- 

 able conjectures, concerning the life 

 habits and history of the Long Fin 

 tuna. Owing to the comparatively re- 

 cent development and perfection of 

 the processing methods the fish has 

 never heretofore been of commercial 

 importance in the Western Hemi- 

 sphere. Though the success of this 

 new industry seems well established, 

 the want of information concerning the 

 source of raw material does not serve 

 to increase a financial confidence in 

 it, such as has been established in 

 the case of the salmon canning indus- 

 try. Under present conditions any 

 move towards further expansion, with 

 a desire to increase the business, or 

 retrenchment to insure the perma- 

 nency, would have to be made abso- 

 lutely in the dark. It will be impossi- 

 ble to conserve and properly regulate 

 this fishery until ample scientific data 

 is at hand. Furthermore, not only do 

 those engaged in exploiting it keenly 

 feel the lack of such knowledge, but 

 the people of California want to know 

 the truth about this newfound re- 

 source. 



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