UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 635 



Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry 

 CARL L. ALSBERG, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



March 9, 1918 



THE COMMERCIAL FREEZING AND STORING OF 



FISH. 



By Ernest D. Clark, Investigator in Fish and Fish Products, and Lloyd H. 

 Almt, Assistant Chemist, Food Research Laboratory, prepared under the 

 direction of M. E. Pennington, Chief, Food Research Laboratory. 



CONTENTS. 



Freezing a means of conserving the fish supply. 1 



Preparation of fish 2 



Location of freezers 3 



Cleaning fish !. 3 



Freezing fish 3 



Freezing in ice or brine 4 



Glazing 4 



Cold storage of fish 5 



Packing fish for storage. 6 



Reglazing 6 



Period of storage 7 



Food value of frozen fish 7 



Handling of frozen fish after storage 8 



Summary. 9 



FREEZING AS A MEANS OF CONSERVING THE FISH SUPPLY. 



But for the fact that fish can be frozen and held in storage for 

 months without important change in food value or flavor vast quan- 

 tities of fish would go to waste, and this valuable nitrogenous food 

 and substitute for meat would be scarce or even unobtainable, except 

 in the smoked, salted, or canned form, during a large part of the , 

 year. The additional fact that fish properly frozen and inclosed in 

 a protective glaze of clear ice may be shipped long distances without 

 deterioration permits many inland communities to obtain in the 

 winter favorite varieties taken in distant waters. Without such 

 conservation bluefish would be on the market for only a few weeks, 

 and then mostly in the vicinity of certain waters; salmon, unless 

 canned or smoked, would be unknown in many sections ; there would 

 be no country-wide interchange of halibut, pike, mackerel, smelts, 

 and other popular fish ; and during the winter, when storms prevent 

 fishing and schools of fish migrate to deep water or southward, fish 

 of many varieties would be a costly delicacy instead of occupying 

 their matter-of-fact place on the table. 



32658°— 18— Bull. 635 1 



