ae: 
FOOD VALUE AND USES OF POULTRY, 13 
liness in surroundings, in handling, and in everything else concerned 
is essential, for dirt introduces microorganisms which cause decay. 
Ordinarily poultry will remain sweet for a week or more at a tem- 
perature of 50° F., but if it is to be kept longer it must be stored in 
a dry place at a temperature no higher than 34° F., which, except 
in winter weather, means in artificial cold storage. 
COLD-STORAGE POULTRY. 
In former times every family in the country either raised its own 
poultry or obtained it from some neighbor, while town and city 
dwellers bought theirs direct from a farmer or from a retail market 
which received it direct from the farm. Such local supplies can still 
be obtained in many rural districts and small cities, and to a limited 
extent in large cities; and provided that the grower cares for the 
_ birds properly, this direct method of marketing probably brings the 
birds to the household in the freshest possible condition. For a 
long time, however, the farms within easy driving distance of the 
larger cities have not been able to supply all the poultry needed and 
birds have been shipped in from long distances. To what extent our 
markets are dependent upon poultry from a long distance may be 
seen from the last census, which shows that over half of the poultry 
used in the United States is produced in only 10 States, most of them 
in the central groups. Of course, this change in the poultry supply 
could not have taken place without a corresponding development of 
refrigerating machinery and methods of transportation, which has 
made it feasible to ship fresh birds for hundreds of miles and to hold 
them for market in good condition for a length of time which would 
have been impossible not many years ago. 
The whole cold-storage business has developed so rapidly during 
the last 20 years that the public still has rather vague ideas regarding 
many features of it. -As far as poultry is concerned, chickens make 
up by far the largest part of the total amount handled, but large 
quantities of turkeys and a limited number of ducks, geese, and other 
birds are also stored. The methods of treating the different varie- 
ties are fundamentally the same. 
It is hardly surprising that there is a good deal of confusion as to 
4 exactly what is meant by cold-storage poultry, for very few defini- 
tions or standards have been set up to describe it in different States, 
and those that have been adopted are often conflicting. It has been 
‘suggested that the term ‘“‘cold-storage poultry’ be used to describe 
all poultry which has been kept for more than 30 days at a tempera- 
ture below 45° F. If such a definition were legally adopted, the 
practical effect would be that no birds which had been kept for more- 
_ than a month could be sold as fresh. To a person accustomed to 
think of fresh poultry as that which has been kept for a few days 
Sa aap are A ERO SOS Soe. Sas ber ee 
SERS Syeu ae Sea 
