KEFKIGEKATION OF DJRESSED POULTRY IN TRANSIT. 6 
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 tenK 
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 
1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Cir. 70. 
2 Pennington and Hepburn. J. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1910, 32: 568. 
