FOOD VALUE OF SKA MUSSELS. 
Ill 
At 35 cents a bushel the rate would be half a cent per pound, or io cents for 20 pounds. 
In table 8 we find the fuel value for each pound of mussels in the shell to equal 140 
calories energy. 20X140 = 2,800 calories energy, the amount 10 cents would purchase 
at 35 cents per bushel. This, however, is calculated on the wholesale price. The 
retail cost would probably be double this amount. Consequently, our fuel value 
should be cut in half, making 1,400 calories energy the purchasing value of 10 cents 
at retail rates. Thus the calculation on wholesale prices places the mussel in the class 
of cheap foods. The calculation on retail prices puts it among the cheaper of the 
medium-priced foods, such as beef flank, neck and shank, milk, beans, and turnips. 
To thousands of families who live near the coast, the mussels are to be had for the 
slight effort required to gather them, and yet up to the present time all this vast wealth 
of food has been ignored and wasted. This, too, where families in easy reach of a rich 
supply of the shellfish are facing poverty. 
PRESERVATION METHODS. 
At the present time there is great need for methods of preserving perishable foods 
in such a manner as not to injure their palatable flavor and nutritive qualities or greatly 
increase the price at which they may be sold to the consumer. Especially is this true 
for fishery products, which spoil very quickly after removal from the water. The 
decomposition which sets in so rapidly is caused by the presence of bacteria, which 
multiply with great rapidity, the rate of putrefaction progressing in direct proportion 
to their increase in number. 
To preserve fishery products, then, it is necessary to keep them free from the 
action of bacteria, and this may be accomplished by eliminating one or more of the 
three conditions on which the life and growth of the organisms depend — namely, heat, 
moisture, and oxygen. Cold storage deprives the organisms of sufficient heat for 
growth, desiccation takes the needed moisture from them, and canning at high tem- 
peratures destroys the germs present and, furthermore, excludes the air required for 
growth. Antiseptics, such as salt, vinegar, and boracic acid, are employed to prevent 
the multiplication of bacteria. All of these methods are applicable to the mussel. 
CANNING. 
The sea mussel is of all the shellfish particularly adapted for canning. Unlike the 
oyster, it remains tender and retains its full flavor when subjected to the high tem- 
peratures necessary to prepare it in this way. The process which has been devised as 
most feasible is as follows : 
The mussels when taken from the collecting boats are rapidly picked over by hand 
to eliminate any dead or unhealthy ones which may be present, as well as the coarse 
adhering debris. Then they are placed in a cleaning apparatus, such as is shown in 
figure 2. It consists of a rectangular box 2 by 2 by 3 feet, which revolves on its long 
axis. The ends of the box are of solid yellow pine and are firmly held in place by four 
pairs of braces 3 feet long, 2 inches wide, and y 2 inch thick. Three sides of the box are 
