1392 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



centage of water than smoked beef which is sold in the piece; this 

 is because the former is smoked for a shorter time. The popular 

 notion that the method employed by large packing houses for tae 

 preparation of smoked meats is materially different from that employed 

 on the 'farm is erroneous. The only difference is that the smoke 

 rooms of the packing houses are on a much larger scale, and meat is 

 arranged in a number of tiers, often from 5 to 7. The meat is always 

 smoked with hickory wood and sawdust, 2^ cords of the former and 8 

 barrels of the latter being sometimes employed for a single room, which 

 may contain as high as 60,000 pounds of shoulder or ham or twice that 

 amount of side meat. One establishment in Chicago has 43 smoke 

 rooms of this size and 11 half as large. During the summer months 

 it turns out from 500,000 to 700,000 pounds of smoked meat per day, 

 not including sausages. 



Owing to the complete sterilization resulting from curing and 

 smoking, these goods do not require the processing employed with 

 canned roast or boiled beef, although smoked beef which is put into 

 the can in irregular lumps is sometimes processed. Processing is 

 entirely omitted with chipped beef; the melting of the fat would 

 detract much from the appearance of the product. In such cases a 

 small amount of boric acid is added to the meat, not for the sake of 

 preserving it (according to the manufacturers), but to prevent a change 

 of color. 



The cans with top soldered on and vent open are placed in a vacuum 

 apparatus, the air extracted, and the vent closed in vacuo. The can 

 and contents are then preserved without processing. Smoked ham 

 and bacon are canned by practically the same process as described 

 above for smoked beef. 



CANNED CHICKEN AND TURKEY. 



The fowls are dressed and drawn and the whole carcass boiled until 

 the meat is sufficiently cooked to facilitate its separation from the bone. 

 The carcass is then boned and the meat canned and processed by prac- 

 tically the same method as practiced with canned roast or boiled beef. 



CANNED SAUSAGE. 



A number of small varieties of sausage are placed on the market in 

 hermetically sealed cans. These appear to be identical in every respect 

 with those which are used without canning. Even boric acid, which 

 is commonly used with sausage, but which serves no purpose whatever 

 in canned meat, is ordinarily found in canned sausage. 



MISCELLANEOUS MEATS. 



Potted meats, deviled meats, pates, purees, and a number of other 

 articles that might be mentioned in the same class, are often mixtures 



