MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 121 
SUMMARY. 
The packers of Maine sardines occupy a very important position 
in the food industry in their ability to supply a food product which is 
comparatively cheap and at the same time has a high nutritive value. 
Careless methods on the part of some packers, due to a desire for 
quantity production at a sacrifice of quality and to a lack of control 
over the employees of the plants, have resulted in the appearance on 
the market of some very low-grade sardines, tending to bring the 
whole sardine industry into disrepute. 
In an effort to assist the packer in improving the character of his 
output the Bureau of Chemistry conducted an extensive investigation 
of the packing processes, as a result of which it has been able to make 
various recommendations to the canners. 
The salient points brought out in the course of the experimental 
work are as follows: 
Composition of the fish.—The composition of the sea herring varies 
during the season, the fat content increasing from July to October. 
This variation is greater in the case of the smaller than of the larger 
fish. 
Food of the sea herring.—The copepods (red feed) and schizopods 
(shrimp) constitute the principal food of the sea herring. When 
gorged with food on being taken from the water the fish are said to 
be feedy, in which condition they are unfit for packing. The diffi- 
culty encountered in the form of feedy fish may be overcome by 
holding the fish in pounds attached to weirs until they are free from 
feed, and by cutting and eviscerating the fish before sending them 
through the packing process. 
Swells—Two organisms, a bacillus apparently identical with Niel- 
sen’s Bacillus Walfischrauschbrand and Bacillus B, a nonspore-bearing 
pathogenic gas-producing bacterium, are associated with the feed of 
the small herring, the former being more frequently found with the 
schizopods and the latter with the copepods. During decomposition 
of the copepods and schizopods (feed), both ammonia and amines 
were produced in very large quantities. Growth of the two organ- 
_ Ismsinpureculture on fish media also produced ammonia and amines. 
Apparently swells are produced by the action of these organisms, 
also the condition of the fish known as belly blown. 
Transportation of the fish.—It is unnecessary to salt excessively 
fish which are to be in transit for only a reasonable length of time. 
Such salting should be done with the idea of saving time in the 
pickling shed, rather than as a means of preservation, as decompo- 
sition, particularly in the viscera and contents, is not completely 
prevented by the presence of salt. The limit of the time to be con- 
sumed in transporting fish in salt, without refrigeration, seems to be 
