EDITORIAL. 
experimental stage in this process, meats and vegetables had been 
thoroughly dried in the Industrial Chemistry Laboratory of Columbia 
University under the supervision of Professor Ralph H. McKee, and 
had been shipped to different parts of the world, where they have been 
used with success. One consignment of the meat dried in this manner 
gave great satisfaction in Armenia, where it was distributed by the 
Near East Relief Fund. Other products of the new dehydration process 
had been taken, to distant parts of the world by exploring parties, and 
had been found to answer all the requirements. ; 
Dr. Falk said that from these meats and other foods which were 
dried in a vacuum delicious dishes could be made, the taste of which 
would commend them to any housewife. From the dried meat, savory 
stews and hashes are made, while the vegetables which may be incor- 
porated with the meat have as fine a flavour as if they had only recently 
come from the garden. It would be possible by means of this process 
to dry beef in vacuum ovens in parts of the earth where cattle may 
be raised very cheaply, as in Argentina, and to transport the dried 
product for. many thousands of miles at very low freight cost. As 
canned fruits contain considerable moisture and are placed in metal 
containers, the advantages of the vacuum-dried products become mani- 
fest, according to the view of Dr. Falk. “Transportation,” said he, . 
“has always been a question of vital importance. Ships and other 
common carriers are always at a premium, and, again, certain kinds 
of food require special equipment, such as cold storage. For example, 
the plentiful supply of sheep in New Zealand might benefit the rest of 
the world to a greater extent if moré transportation facilities were 
available.” Dr. Falk said that usually sun-dried meats and other foods 
were discoloured, and that their nutritive values were impaired. While 
even with fairly good methods of dehydration it would have been found 
necessary to use bleaching agents, a recourse which was not required, 
according to the process developed at the Harriman laboratories. The 
incentive to’ develop this method of preservation for food products was 
given early in November, 1917, by Colonel John R. Murlin, in charge 
of the Division of Food and Nutrition of the United States Army, and 
was developed by Dr. Falk, Dr. Edward M. Frankel, and Professor 
Ralph H. McKee. 
ADVANTAGES OF VACUUM DEHYDRATION. 
_ “Tn the dehydration of meats,” Dr. Falk pointed out, “the tem- 
perature must be kept below the point at which the proteins coagulate, 
for if there is too low a temperature the process of dehydration will be 
unnecessarily prolonged, with the result that often spoilage will occur, 
and the overhead cost will be greatly increased. It is possible to solve 
this problem of dehydration by the use of a suitable vacuum drier, in 
which the meat or other food product is introduced, in pieces of suitable 
size, and kept in the vacuum at a temperature which is below that of 
cooking, or which makes no appreciable change.” Dr. Falk said that 
a large variety of foods had been dehydrated by the vacuum method, 
and that a number of others will probably be subjected in time to the 
same process. The mechanism used is not complicated, and can be 
easily installed at remote places. “In considering food preservation 
methods in general, it may be stated,” he said, “ that such methods will 
come into use more and more.” The Government estimated that 50 
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