74 BULLETIN 908, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



gave, in all three cases, results quite different from those obtained at 

 the earlier periods of examination, particularly those of the 6-month 

 period. After standing 18 and 36 months, the volatile alkaline mate- 

 rial consisted of practically equal parts of ammonia and amines. 

 The proportion of ammonia and amines in this pack, after the longer 

 periods of standing, agreed closely with the results obtained on 

 packs which were allowed to stand for an excessive length of time 

 (Table 31). 



INFLUENCE OP TIME AND TEMPERATURE OP STORAGE. 



To determine the influence of the time and temperature of storage 

 on the formation of ammonia and total amines in sardines, a number 

 of packs were prepared from fish which had been subjected to widely 

 diverse preliminary treatments. The fish used in the preparation of 

 lots 1, 2, and 3 were dry salted at the rate of one-half sack of salt per 

 hogshead of fish, when taken from the water, and were held in the 

 salt for varying periods, as indicated in Table 33. Those composing 

 lot 4 were surrounded with an ice and salt mixture during transporta- 

 tion and at no time were they in contact with salt or pickle. The 

 fish of lot 5 were feedy fish, gorged with feed which did not look like 

 shrimp. The fish were steam cooked, dried, packed without being 

 eviscerated, and processed for If hours. As soon as the processed 

 cans were cool, samples were prepared and analyzed. The rest of the 

 packs were stored for different lengths of time at ordinary room 

 temperature and at 33° F. When the analyses were made, the vis- 

 cera of some of the fish were separated from the whole fish, so that 

 determinations were made upon the whole fish, upon the eviscerated 

 fish, and upon the viscera and contents. The results of these analyses 

 are given in Table 33. 



