﻿BULLETIN OF THE *0hkj 



eEPMIMOFAffldni« 



No. 17. WlmK 



Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry, Carl L. Alsberg, Chief. 5 



November 5, 1913. 



THE REFRIGERATION OF DRESSED POULTRY IN 



TRANSIT. 



By M. E. Pennington, Chief, Food Research Laboratory, and A. D. Greenlee, 

 Assistant Chemist; H. C. Pierce, E. Witmer, H. A. McAleer, and M. K. Jenkins, 

 in the field; J. S. Hepburn, M. 0. Stafford, H. C. Robertson, and E. L. Con- 

 nolly, in the laboratory. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



Considering the great commercial importance of the transportation 

 of perishable products under refrigeration, very little systematic 

 work has been done on the subject. The Transactions of the First 

 International Congress of Refrigeration, held in Paris in 1908, have 

 brought together a mass of diverse information which has been 

 supplemented by the reports presented at the Second Congress of 

 Refrigeration, at Vienna, in 1910. Yet the underlying principles of 

 successful transportation under refrigeration, namely, the tempera- 

 tures obtainable and their exact effect on the condition of the produce 

 when it reaches the market, is but scantily treated. The very 

 excellent report of J. M. Culp before the International Railway 

 Congress, at Berne, Switzerland, in 1910, gives the history of refriger- 

 ated carriers in the United States, and much of technical and general 

 interest as well. Horr * has presented some general facts regarding 

 the transportation of poultry, butter, and eggs from the viewpoint 

 of the dairy freight agent, but he gives nothing specific concerning 

 car construction, temperatures maintained, or the effect of the haul 

 on the condition of the goods. 



The most definite information on this subject is given in the report 

 by Powell and his associates 2 on the transportation of citrus fruits. 

 This investigation shows that it requires several days for the iced 

 refrigerator car to remove the heat from the load of wrapped, boxed 

 oranges, and that precooled fruit maintains a more constant tem- 

 perature during the haul than can be obtained when the fruit is 

 loaded unchilled. Very decided differences in temperature were 

 noted in the various parts of the car, especially between the top and 

 bottom of the load, and in the air of the car as compared with the 



i First International Congress of Refrigeration. Transactions, Paris, 1908. 

 2 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Plant Industry Bui. 123. 



7078°— Bull. 17—13 1 



