﻿REFRIGERATION OF DBESSED POULTRY IN TRANSIT. 3 



rate for practical purposes has been devised and used to determine the 

 amount of ammoniacal nitrogen in chicken flesh prepared for market 

 in different ways. 1 Therefore, when the changes occurring in flesh 

 during transportation were to be determined, the investigators had a 

 very satisfactory laboratory method at hand by which to obtain the 

 information sought. At the end of the railroad haul, and again at 

 each change of environment during marketing, samples of the product 

 were subjected to an analysis to determine the quantity of ammoni- 

 acal nitrogen present. It is upon these laboratory findings, supple- 

 mented by the usual visual market inspection, that the statements of 

 condition given in this report are based. It has been found, also, that 

 the development of acidity in the fat is an index of the rate of decay, 

 being especially valuable as an indicator of the promptness and 

 efficiency of the removal of the animal heat. 2 Accordingly, the 

 amount of acid in the gizzard fat was determined for all shipments 

 before they left the packing house. 



From the previous work in the laboratory the methods for deter- 

 mining the state of preservation of dressed, poultry are fairly well 

 defined. These methods furnish a uniform means of determining the 

 effect of changes in temperature on the keeping of the poultry. They, 

 therefore, may be made the basis of a study of the relation of the 

 temperatures in different parts of a refrigerator car to the changes that 

 occur in dressed poultry while in transit and after arrival at the 

 market. The results obtained furnish a definite means of testing the 

 efficiency of refrigerator cars. 



PURPOSE OF THE INVESTIGATION. 



The purpose of this investigation has been to determine the tem- 

 peratures prevailing in refrigerator cars hauling dressed poultry 

 throughout the entire transportation period, and to observe the 

 effect of such temperatures on the condition of the poultry when it 

 arrives at the market. Records were kept of its condition during 

 the whole period of marketing. The responsibility to be assigned 

 to the packer, the carrier, the wholesaler, and the retailer has been 

 apportioned in accordance with the history of the environment and 

 the findings of the chemical laboratory, to which all samples have 

 been submitted for analysis. The details of the effect of the prepa- 

 ration for market and of the treatment during marketing on the 

 product which finally reaches the consumer are reserved for another 

 publication, except in so far as they are needed to elucidate the part 

 played by the carrier. 



While gathering the data necessary to answer the primary question 

 of the investigation, namely, the temperatures maintained by cars 



i U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Cir. 70. 



2 Pennington and Hepburn. J. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1910, 32: 568. 



