232 



Foreign Experiments. 



[JUNE, 



increase. The results of these experiments, therefore, seem to be 

 entirely in favour of a complete dressing. 



Foreign Experiments. 



Cold Storage of Poultry (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture). — A report by 

 Dr. Mary E. Pennington, of the Bureau of Chemistry, on the changes 

 which take place in chickens when kept in a frozen condition for 

 various periods, is included in the Year-Book of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture for 1907. The opinion is prevalent in the cold- 

 storage trade in the United States that poultry may be kept for long 

 periods without any appreciable change, and it is stated that foodstuffs 

 are thus kept for months and even years before being placed on sale. 

 In order to test this point chickens were picked at random from the 

 stock coming to a cold-storage warehouse, and placed undrawn in a 

 refrigerator at a temperature of from 13 0 to 15 0 Fahr. A chicken was 

 removed after ten months and thawed in water. It was found that 

 the exterior was somewhat dried, and there was a marked drying-out 

 of the muscle and tissue, with a deepening of tint, but the chicken 

 was still a good palatable-looking bird. A second bird was removed 

 after two years, when its appearance was markedly different from that 

 of a fresh bird. The skin was leathery and the muscles were discoloured, 

 shrunken, and dry. The odour of the chicken was unpleasant, though 

 not that commonly described as putrefactive. After exposure to the 

 air for a few hours the odour had increased and become similar to that 

 of putrid flesh. 



In the case of a chicken frozen for three years, these changes had 

 progressed much further, and, in addition, it had become stiff. The 

 appearance and odour of the bird were unpleasant in the extreme ; 

 the skin was green, and the muscles dried out, while the fat had 

 changed from a light yellow colour to a deep brown-orange. After 

 thawing the keeping quality of this chicken was practically nil. These 

 results show that the opinion that there is no change in cold-storage 

 poultry cannot be accepted in its entirety. Both microscopic study 

 and the taste of the cooked fowl confirm the opinion gathered from 

 its appearance that degeneration does take place. 



In an address before the American Warehousemen's Association 

 (National Provisioner, Jan. 22, 1910), Dr. Pennington described some 

 further experiments, and pointed out that the treatment of the poultry 

 before storage has an important bearing on the result. Changes may 

 be set up between the time of killing and the receipt of the birds at 

 the warehouse, and though the subsequent changes take place at a 

 much slower rate in a temperature below freezing point, they are not 

 entirely stopped. 



Chickens were dressed in the two ways employed under commercial 

 conditions : (1) picked dry and chilled in cold air, (2) scalded by plunging 

 for from ten to fifteen seconds in water a little below boiling point, after 

 which the feathers were rubbed off and the birds chilled in cold air 

 or water. The dry-picked birds and the scalded birds were divided 

 into two lots, part being stored promptly and part kept twenty-four 

 hours at unfavourable temperatures without chilling or storage. They 

 were then wrapped in parchment paper and packed in a box lined 

 with parchment paper, and nailed or fastened in the usual manner. 



