BULLETIN 792, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



REVIEW OF THE 1918 COLD STORAGE HOLDINGS OF FROZEN MEATS. 



The Bureau of Markets collects and publishes information regard- 

 ing the monthly cold storage holdings of three classes of frozen meats — • 

 frozen beef, frozen pork, and frozen lamb and mutton. As reports 

 are received from practically all cold storage and packing plants in 

 the United States, the information secured shows the quantities on 

 hand on the first of each month in both public and private cold 

 storage warehouses and in packing house plants. 



The maximum quantities reported for each of these commodities 

 on the first of any one month during the year were as follows: Frozen 

 beef on January 1, 1918, 309,621,874 pounds; frozen pork on May 1, 

 1918, 134,633,021 pounds; frozen lamb and mutton on December 1, 

 1918, 9,046,250 pounds. 



These figures, of course, do not represent the total quantities frozen 

 during the year, for, as no information has been secured regarding 

 nionthly receipts and deliveries, it is obvious that some meats may 

 have been frozen and removed from the warehouses during the month, 

 which would not appear in the reports of the stocks on hand on the 

 first day of the month. The quantities reported since August 1, 1918, 

 are stocks. of carcasses and cuts only and do not include trimmings 

 and offal. Previous to that date, through a: misunderstanding, a few 

 \farehouses reported trimmings and edible offal with their other meat 

 stocks. From corrected reports received for several months, it is 

 estimated that the trimmings and offal thus included amount to 

 approximately 3 per cent of the total stocks reported. 



FROZEN BEEF. 



The reports of the Bureau of Markets have shown extraordinarily 

 large quantities of frozen beef stocks in cold storage during the year. 

 To a great extent this is accounted for by the large quantities frozen 

 for shipment overseas. It is probable that much more was frozen 

 and shipped between reports and therefore is not shown in the monthly 

 reports. 



The reports showed that the largest stocks held at any one time 

 during the year were in storage on January 1, 1918. Table 1 shows 

 the holdings of that date segregated by geographical sections and a 

 comparison of, the stocks of January 1, 1918, with those of January 1, 

 1917. This comparison is based on those storages that reported their 

 holdings for both dates. 



