UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 378 
Joint Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry, 
CARL L. ALSBERG, Chief, and the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, A. D. MELYIN, Chief 
Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER August 22, 1916 
FISH MEAL: ITS USE AS A STOCK AND POULTRY 
FOOD. 
By F. C. Webee, 
Chemist in Charge, Animal Physiological Chemical Laboratory, 
Bureau of Chemistry, 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
Review of literature 3 
Composition and qualities of fish 
meal 9 
Feeding experiments 11 
General methods for the manufac- 
ture of fish meal 16 
Page. 
Opinions of the trade in regard to 
feeding fish meal 18 
Raw material available for fish 
meal 19 
General conclusions 20 
INTRODUCTION. 
The use of fish meal in this country at the present time for feeding 
purposes is so limited that it may be said that in commercial quan- 
tities it has scarcely begun to be marketed. The Connecticut Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station 1 in its report on feeding stuffs for the 
year 1914 gives the results of examination of one commercial brand 
sold by an eastern firm. Fish meal is used by another eastern firm as 
the protein basis of a poultry food. It has been prepared for some 
time on the Pacific coast, and there are several brands already on the 
market from that region. One of these products is made of a mixture 
of fish meal and meat meal. As commercial by-products fish and the 
waste residue from fish have always in this country been converted 
into so-called " scrap " or " pomace " for use as a fertilizer ingre- 
dient. An entire industry, the fish-scrap fertilizer industry along the 
Atlantic coast, has grown up, in which a single species of fish, the 
menhaden, is used as a source of raw material. In the early days 
i Conn. Agr. Exp. Sta. Rpt. 1914, pt. 4, p. 221. 
Note. — The object of this publication is to set forth the value of fish meal as a food 
for domestic animals, in order to stimulate its more general use as a supplementary 
stock food and to encourage its manufacture for that purpose. 
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