462 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



[30] 



Suppose a pound of beef of average fatness to cost 25 cents and to 

 contain 25 per cent, of inedible matters, bone, &c., 45 per cent of water, 

 and 30 per cent, of nutritive substance, upon wMch latter — the bone 

 and water being assumed to be without nutritive value — the whole cost 

 comes. The 30 per cent, or 0.30 pounds of nutritive substance thus 

 costs 25 cents ; or at the rate of 83^ cents per j>ouud. If, now, we leave 

 out of account the minute quantities of carbohydrates and the mineral 

 matters, the whole cost will fall upon the protein and fats. Assuming 

 these to cost in the ratio of 5 : 3 and the amounts in the meat to be, 

 protein 14^ per cent, and fats 15 per cent., an easy computation will 

 show the protein to cost 107.7 cents, and the fats 64.6 cents per pound. 

 Proof: 0.1425 pound of protein at 107.7 cents=15.3 cents; 0.15 pounds 

 of fats, at 64.6 cents=9.7 cents; 15.3 cents + 9,7 cents=25 cents, the 

 cost of the pound of meat which contained the given amounts of pro 

 tein and fats. The above ratios, protein : fats: carbohydrates =5 : 3 : 1, 

 represent at best only general averages, and may in given cases be 

 more or less incorrect. A method free from these objections consists 

 in simply computing the amounts of nutrients that may be bought for 

 the same price in different food-materials. At the same time the 

 method above detailed is doubtless accurate enough for a general com- 

 parison of the relative cheapness and dearness of ordinary foods, and is 

 used for the calculations in the table below.' 



Of the different nutrients, protein is physiologically the most im- 

 portant, as it is pecuniarily the most expensive. In fish, furthermore, 

 as in the leaner kinds of meat, it is the predominant nutritive ingre- 

 dient. For these reasons the cost of protein in fish and other foods 

 may be used as a means of comparing their relative cheapness or dear- 

 ness, as is done in the following table. The figures represent the 

 ordinary prices per pound and the corresponding costs of protein, in 

 specimens of food-materials obtained in New York and Middletown 

 (Conn.) markets, and of which analyses are given. Though the num- 

 ber of specimens is too small for reliable averages, the figures, taken 

 together, doubtless give a tolerably fair idea of the relative costliness 

 of the nutrients in the different classes of foods. 



Comparative costs of protein in animal and vegetable foods. 



Foods. 



Ordinary 



prices per 



pomia. 



Cost of 



protein per 



ponna. 



Meats, dairy products, <£c. 

 Beef: 



Sirloin, medium fatness ' 



Same, at lower price — 



Konna, rather lean 



Kound, rather lean, lower price 



Corned, lean 



Flank,* very fat 



Mutton : 



Leg .-- 



Side, medium fatness 



Pork,'' very fat 



Smoked ham 



Milk, 8 ceuts per quart 



* Containing very little proteia. 



Cents. 

 25 

 20 

 18 

 16 

 18 

 15 



22 

 20 

 16 



18 

 4 



Cents. 



108 

 86 

 70 

 62 

 53 

 36 



107 

 59 



