32 COD AND OTHEE SALT FISH FOR THE MARKET. 



age, and the product obtained would be in a more cleanly and sani- 

 tary form for handling. The added cost in packing would be offset 

 by the saving in losses by present methods. At present shredded fish 

 are put up in vacuum glass and in tin cans, and they keep well. Fish 

 can be shipped in brine, or in cakes and be submerged in a saturated 

 brine at the retail store and keep Avithout reddening. This method, 

 however, is not in commercial favor. 



EFFECTS OF TEMPEBATUBE. 



Keddening of the cod does not occur during the cooler months of 

 the year. The spoilage at the factory is almost wholly limited to 

 July, August, and September, but shipments which go to the interior 

 or to the Southern States may spoil in transit or after being received, 

 owing to the higher temperature. Fish shipped by freight during the 

 hot months are often set on a siding for varying lengths of time, the 

 interior temperature of the car may vary from 90 to more than 100, 

 and under such conditions spoilage will occur quickly. Eeddening 

 seldom occurs in the holds of vessels in transit from the fishing 

 grounds to the factory, except during very warm days, as the tempera- 

 ture of the sea water is sufficient to prevent the growth of the organ- 

 isms. Farlow states that these organisms will not grow in a tempera- 

 ture below 65 F. In these experiments, however, some growth was 

 found to occur at as low as 45 F., but it was slow even below 75 F. 

 It is evident that it does not require so low a temperature to keep 

 salt fish as it does to keep salt meats and that if they were handled 

 in a similar manner there would be little loss. It would not be good 

 management for a packer in Chicago to start a carload of good salt 

 meat for Boston in a plain box car in the middle of August, when 

 the thermometer is registering from 90 to 100. It would not be 

 good judgment to keep such meat in a wholesale grocery or provision 

 house for a period varying from ten to forty days after arriving at 

 its destination and then to reship to the jobber in lots which would 

 supply his demand for from thirty to sixty days. The practice is to 

 ship in refrigerator cars to a cold-storage depot, to distribute quickly 

 and only in such quantities as the retailers can readily move in a 

 short time. Quality depends upon careful handling from producer 

 to consumer, the time intervening being made as short as possible. 



Salted fish is not different from other salted meat products except 

 that it is less likely to spoil. The cooling in shipment or in storage 

 need not be carried far, but the principle of having proper storage 

 houses for distribution ought to be developed. Small but repeated 

 shipments to retailers, two cases every two weeks instead of ten cases 

 every sixty days, is being tried and with success. 



In order to get a fair idea of the quantity of salt fish sold and the 

 method of handling in a small inland city, the groceries in Lafayette, 



