BULLETIN OF THE 
No. 17. 
Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry, Carl L. Alsberg, Chief. 
November 5, 1913. 
THE REFRIGERATION OF DRESSED POULTRY IN 
TRANSIT. 
By M. E. Pennington, Chief, Food Research Laboratory , and A. D. Greenlee, 
Assistant Chemist; H. C. Pierce, E. Witmer, H. A. McAleer, and M. K. Jenkins, 
in the field; J. S. Hepburn, M. O. Stafford, H. C. Robertson, and E. L. Con- 
nolly, in the laboratory. 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
Considering the great commercial importance of the transportation 
of perishable products under refrigeration, very little systematic 
work has been done on the subject. The Transactions of the First 
International Congress of Refrigeration, held in Paris in 1908, have 
brought together a mass of diverse information which has been 
supplemented by the reports presented at the Second Congress of 
Refrigeration, at Vienna, in 1910. Yet the underlying principles of 
successful transportation under refrigeration, namely, the tempera- 
tures obtainable and their exact effect on the condition of the produce 
when it reaches the market, is but scantily treated. The very 
excellent report of J. M. Culp before the International Railway 
Congress, at Berne, Switzerland, in 1910, gives the history of refriger- 
ated carriers in the United States, and much of technical and general 
interest as well. Horr 1 has presented some general facts regarding 
the transportation of poultry, butter, and eggs from the viewpoint 
of the dairy freight agent, but he gives nothing specific concerning 
car construction, temperatures maintained, or the effect of the haul 
on the condition of the goods. 
The most definite information on this subject is given in the report 
by Powell and his associates 2 on the transportation of citrus fruits. 
This investigation shows that it requires several days for the iced 
refrigerator car to remove the heat from the load of wrapped, boxed 
oranges, and that precooled fruit maintains a more constant tem- 
perature during the haul than can be ob tamed when the fruit is 
loaded unchilled. Very decided differences in temperature were 
noted in the various parts of the car, especially between the top and 
bottom of the load, and in the air of the car as compared with the 
1 First International Congress of Refrigeration. Transactions, Paris, 1908. 
2 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Plant Industry Bui. 123. 
7078°— Bull. 17—13 1 
