UTILIZATION OF MARINE PRODUCTS OF CANADA 205 



Coast, are not subject to Federal Government inspection. Provincial 

 sanitary regulations for fish processing plants apply in most Provinces, 

 but do not always cover the products themselves. Voluntary inspection 

 control is exercised by many processing firms, much to their credit, but 

 unfortunately not by all to the same degree. This has an adverse bear- 

 ing on the desirable confidence of the consumer of fishery products, 

 mentioned under (a) above. On the other hand, meat products in 

 Canada are processed under careful Federal Government control, and 

 milk products receive considerable Federal or Provincial attention. 



(d) Because of the bounteousness of many fishery harvests, not only 

 in British Columbia but in other parts of Canada, there is an un- 

 fortunate tendency in times of glut to handle the raw product and its 

 processing in a careless manner suggestive of the handling of cordwood, 

 coal, or some other non-perishable material despite the fact that fish and 

 shellfish flesh is more perishable than that of meat or fowl, which re- 

 ceives more careful attention. It is true that in times of extreme glut 

 some of the raw material is diverted to manufacture of products such 

 as fish meal and oil not intended for human consumption. However, 

 there is ample advice available from technological sources to show the 

 way towards better handling of fishery products during every stage from 

 the time of catch to display for the ultimate consumer. Not all of this 

 advice has been heeded. 



(e) No matter how good may be the quality of a fishery product, 

 particularly raw, fresh or frozen fish, there exists a certain aversion on 

 the part of many ultimate consumers to the odours and other unpleasant- 

 nesses of preparing the product for the table. Many housev/ives complain 

 of the odour of cooking fish, and families may enjoy fish cooked in a 

 restaurant more than they would at home, in order to avoid this in- 

 convenience. However, most people do not eat in a restaurant as often 

 as at home. This aversion to the odours of cooking fish may be a matter 

 of opinion influenced by hearsay, for many families cheerfully accept 

 the somewhat faecal odour of cooking cauliflower. 



(f) Some people just do not like fish. Vegetarians are included in 

 this group. 



To offset some of the above reasons for lack of appreciation of fish 

 in Canada, it must be stated that while Canada has lagged somewhat 

 behind some countries, particularly certain Scandinavian countries, in 

 rigorous control over the quality of its fisheries products for both home 

 consumption and export, it is well ahead of many other countries in 

 this respect. Fisheries technological stations were instituted by the 

 Biological Board of Canada (now the Fisheries Research Board of 

 Canada) at Halifax on the Atlantic coast in 1925, at Prince Rupert on 



