SHRINKAGE OF SOFT PORK. 13 
i SUMMARY. 
Investigation revealed that discounts ranging from 1^ to 7 cents 
per pound live weight were being made at the different live-stock 
markets for soft and oily hogs. 
Hogs producing soft or oily carcasses can not be distinguished 
before slaughter from those yielding firm meat. 
These tests did not show a distinct difference in the dressing per- 
centages of soft, oily or firm hogs. 
Shrinkage in the chill room was relatively the same for all classes 
of pork. 
All cuts used (except pickle-cured bacon) were increased in weight 
3.50 per cent to 11 per cent by pumping with a curing solution. 
All pickle-cured meat gained in weight in cure. 
The results of the tests on hams, skinned and not skinned, were 
practically the same. Both at East St. Louis and Fort Worth the 
records show that the oily meat gains less while in cure, but loses less 
in smoke and during the retaining period than does the firm. The 
hams classed as soft lose more than oily and less than firm through 
cure, but through smoke and the retaining period the oily skinned 
hams at Fort Worth and the regular oily hams at St. Louis shrunk 
less than the firm. 
All meat cured by the dry salt method, except two lots of firm 
bellies and shoulders, lost weight in cure. 
All of the oily meat gained less than firm from chilled weight 
through cure but, with the exception of picnics, all of the oily smoked 
cuts lost less weight than the firm during the smoking and retaining 
periods. All of the meat classed as soft lost more in smoke and during 
the retaining period than firm. 
Oily ham and shoulder cuts, at the end of the retaining period, 
were just as firm to the touch as those that were classed in the cooler 
as firm. The appearance, however, was more glossy. The bellies 
(bacon) not only appeared more glossy and yellowish, but still re- 
mained soft and some of them seemed to be spongy. 
The melting points of the leaf fats taken from the various lots show 
that the average of the oily samples was 34.70° F., while that for soft 
was 40.28° and for firm was 43.40°. 
No difference was detected between oily, soft, and firm meats, 
relative to their keeping qualities, at the close of the retaining periods. 
The results of the tests at Fort Worth show total percentage losses 
in weight of all the smoked wholesale cuts, from chilled weight 
through cure, smoke, and 19-day retaining period, as follows: Oily, 
13.92 per cent; soft, 15.96 per cent; firm, 14.07 per cent. 
