SANITARY CONTROL OP TOMATO-CANNING FACTORIES. 

 Table 2. — Efflciency-of -sorting tests. 



Date. 



Hour of test. 



Percentage 

 of decay. 



Date. 



Hour of test. 



Percentage 

 of decay. 



Sept. 22 





2.20 



1.60 



1.50 



.81 



.87 



.50 



.50 



1.10 



.75 



1.10 



1.00 



Sept. 26. . 



8.00 p. m 



10.15 p.m... 

 10.00a. m... 



5.30 p. m 



8.00 p. m 



8.30 p. m 



11.00p.m... 

 10.30 a.m... 

 11.40 a.m... 

 7.30 p.m.... 



0.37 



Do 



9.30 p.m.... 

 10.45 p. m... 

 11.45 p. m... 



9.15a. m 



5.00 p. m 



9.00 p. m 



11.30 p. m... 

 10.00 p. m... 

 11.45 p. m... 

 3.45 p. m 



Do 



.93 



Do 



Sept. 29 



1.70 



Sept. 23 



Do.. . 



1.35 



Sept. 24 



Do 



.50 



Do 



Do.... 



.43 



Do 



Do ... 



.75 



Do 



Sept 30 



.75 



Sept. 25 



Do.... 



.55 



Sept. 26 



Do 



1.00 



Do 











During the visit at the plant personal attention was given to the 

 cleaning operations. Wherever possible without handicapping the 

 operations of the factory, changes were made by which the apparatus 

 was more easily and effectively reached for cleaning. In some cases 

 wooden piping was changed, doors put in conveyors, pulp boxes made 

 removable, and other changes were made by which the workmen 

 could clean the various parts more quickly and efficiently. 



After these improvements had been made a change was noticed 

 in the odor about the factory, especially when the steam hose was in 

 use. The offensive, fetid odor, which had been noticeable in the ris- 

 ing vapors whenever the steam hose was used, almost wholly dis- 

 appeared, and in its place came the characteristic odor of fresh 

 tomato pulp. 



Factory No. 2. 



A faulty sorting system was the cause of the high counts present 

 in the product manufactured by another factory visited by the 

 bureau's representatives. This condition is more general than the 

 existence of inadequate cleaning systems. 



It was brought to the attention of the Bureau of Chemistry 

 that this factory was having difficulty in maintaining low counts on 

 its products. On visiting the plant it was found that the tomatoes 

 were dumped into a soaking tank, from which they were carried up 

 by a conveyor and fed into a rotary washer, covered with a screen of 

 too fine a mesh to allow its being as efficient in removing soft rot as 

 is necessary. From this washer the tomatoes were fed to the sorting 

 apron. This apron was so arranged that at intervals along its length 

 a portion of the main stream of tomatoes was diverted through the 

 scalding boxes and out upon the peeling tables. Three sorters were 

 working at the main sorting apron, but were so stationed that the 

 tomatoes diverted to the first table received little or no sorting inspec- 

 tion. Those for the second table received some attention, while those 

 for the third had the greatest amount. The sorters also were trying 

 to do trimming work. The result was that many spotted tomatoes 



