8 BULLETIX 1086, U. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGEICTLTURE. 



In the pumping record in Table 1. it is shown that the increase 

 in weight varies with the different wholesale cuts and the different 

 grades of meat. Comparing the oily and firm meat, it is seen that 

 the firm, dry salt bellies gained 2.86 per cent, and the firm pickle- 

 cm^ed picnics 5.23 per cent, while the oily dry-salt bellies gained 3.59 

 per cent and the oily pickle-cm-ed picnics 6.78 per cent. 



The pickle-cm"ed bacon bellies were the only wholesale cuts that 

 were not pumped. With the exception of the oily lots, however, 

 the gain, in cure was much more than in the case of any of the other 

 cuts. The gain in cure was. as follows: Oily, 4.43 per cent; soft, 

 7.92 per cent; firm, 9.62 per cent. In other words, the firm meat 

 gained 5.19 per cent and the soft 3.49 per cent more than the oily. 

 The gain in other cuts was much more uniform, and it should be 

 noted that the great gain in the firm bacon bellies was counter- 

 balanced by correspondingly heavy shrinkage in the smoke and during 

 the retaining period. 



LOSS IN SMOKE. 



All cuts, regardless of how they were cured, lost weight while 

 being smoked. This loss varied with the different cuts and grades 

 of meat, but with every wholesale cut, except the picnics, the firm 

 meat lost more weight than the oily lots. The soft meat in every 

 case lost more than the firm. 



The bacon bellies shrunk almost twice as much as the skinned 

 hams. The shrinkage for all three grades of bacon bellies and skinned 

 hams was as follows : 



j Oily. 



Soft. 



Firm. 



Bellies 



1 



; Per cent. 

 i 13.19 



Per cent. 

 15.22 

 7.85 



Per cent. 

 14.41 



Skinrifid hams . 



7. 49 



7.84 









When both gain and loss are considered, however, from the chilled 

 weight through the smoke, the total loss for all of the cuts of the three 

 grades was: Oily, 5.04 per cent; soft, 5.95 per cent; firm, 4.61 per 

 cent. This indicates that if the meat were sold to the consmner 

 immediately after being smoked the percentage loss of the firm 

 product would have exceeded that of the oil}' by 0.43 and that of the 

 soft by 1.34 per cent of the original weight. The large consuming 

 centers, however, are too far from the packing plants to make this 

 possible. Days, weeks, and sometimes many months elapse before 

 meat is transferred from the packing plants to the consumer. 



During the 19 to 21 days retaining period used in these tests 

 (which was approximately the time required to handle the bulk of 

 the meat) the firm and soft lots were found to shrink more than the 



