30 STUDIES OF POULTRY. 



owner intends to remove and sell such goods within a few days. Too 

 often it is weeks and months before they reach the market. Deteri- 

 oration has progressed while in the frozen state slowly, it is true, 

 but nevertheless unmistakably and decomposition hastens after 

 thawing. Hence the consumer gets a low-grade article and the repu- 

 tation of all cold-stored produce suffers. 



The blame for such practices is often to be laid at the door of the 

 commission man or the retailer. The packer who prepares goods for 

 storage is generally careful to see that the products enter the freezer 

 in good condition. Xot only that, but he is apt to grade more care- 

 fully when goods are to be held for a length of time in a frozen con- 

 dition than when they are to go on the market for immediate con- 

 sumption. 



It is very desirable that the poultry which is to be put in cold 

 storage should be dry picked and dry chilled. Poultry which has been 

 cooled in water shows blistered areas and an unsightly drying out of 

 the skin after comparatively short periods of storage, while the 

 scalded fowls have not only unsightly skins but a deepening of the 

 color over legs and thighs which is very undesirable. It has been 

 observed by the more experienced of the members of the industry, 

 and confirmed by scientific investigation also, that scalded poultry 

 does not keep as well as that which is dry picked; neither does the 

 water-cooled product keep as well as that which has been air chilled. 



Larger packing houses at the present time aim to have not only a 

 chill room, such as has been discussed, but also a room maintaining a 

 temperature below F. (18 C.). In this room the chilled birds 

 in boxes are kept until hard frozen. They may be carried by the 

 packer hard frozen at 10 to 15 F. (12 to 9 C.) until sold, 

 or they may be shipped immediately after freezing to a warehouse 

 which is in proximity to their final market. 



The packer who is not supplied with a freezer ships his carefully 

 graded and boxed stock in a refrigerator car, with every precaution 

 against bad treatment, to a cold-storage warehouse, where the birds 

 are frozen and where they are kept until marketed. It is the aim of 

 the packer or the warehouseman to freeze the birds as promptly as 

 possible, since upon this, in a considerable measure, depends the re- 

 tention of their clear color and fresh appearance. Hence it is not un- 

 usual now to find warehouses which maintain rooms 10 below zero 

 (23 C.), into which the stock is put for two or three days or until 

 completely frozen. It is then transferred to a room having a tem- 

 perature of about 10 F. (12 C.) where it is carried. 



In order to freeze quickly boxes must not be piled tightly one upon 

 another, and it is desirable to keep them as near the floor of the 

 freezer as possible. Hence they are tilted one against the other, 



[Cir. 64] 



