394 MICROBIOLOGY OF SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. 



Canned meats, fish, or crustaceans are likewise liable to spoilage if 

 sterilization has been imperfectly carried out. In these goods the change 

 may or may not be accompanied by gas production, but detection is 

 usually comparatively easy because of the objectionable odors and flavors 

 present. The degradation products from the breaking down of. these 

 foods sometimes possess poisonous properties. 



DISPOSAL OF FACTORY REFUSE. 



The disposal of the factory refuse has at times become a serious problem to the 

 commercial canner. Of late years, however, methods have been devised for utilizing 

 much of the material that formerly was allowed to accumulate about the factory in 

 fermenting heaps to the extent of sometimes becoming a nuisance to the neighborhood. 



At pea canneries several methods of utilising the vines are in use. They may 

 be converted into silage, either by putting into silos or stacking in large stacks. In some 

 sections the pea vines are cured for hay. They are also valuable as a soiling crop, and 

 as a fertilizer. 



Corn husks and cobs are also utilized for silage. Experiments were made by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture on the feasibility of using the refuse from the 

 canning of corn for the production of alcohol. It was found that, on account of the 

 expensive machinery and other apparatus required in the manufacture, a small factory 

 could not profitably utilize the corn waste for alcohol. It was shown, however, that 

 where several factories were located within a short radius, by shipping their wastes to a 

 central plant, they might be utilized to advantage. 



In the canning of tomatoes, many factories manufacture the cores, mutilated and 

 inferior tomatoes into pulp which is stored in barrels, to be made up later into the cheaper 

 grades of catsup. The skins are usually hauled out for fertilizer, although they " may 

 be used as a filler for cayenne pepper, and for 'cattle spice'." The tomato seeds are 

 sometimes graded for size, the larger ones being used for seed, and the smaller for the 

 manufacture of a yellow dye stuff. 



Apples cores, "chops," peelings, etc., are usually either used for vinegar making, 

 or are made up into apple jelly. From one factory visited by the writer, the apple 

 cores and peelings were dried, baled, and shipped to Europe " to be made up into 

 champagne." 



Peach pits are sometimes sold to nurserymen for seed. Sometimes the pits are 

 cracked and the meats removed and used for almond meats. In many factories no use 

 is made of the peach stones. 



In the classes of food in which the amount of waste is not large, the refuse is 

 either hauled away to a dumping ground near the factory ; or is taken away by farmers 

 for its manurial value. 



