Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-10-15
HOW FISH ARE PRESERVED.
Washington Post.

| Washington Post.
Experts OF the United States Fish
Commission have been making an elab-
crate study of the business OF Dreserv-
! ing fish products for food, and they
have got together a lot OF interesting
facts which will soon be published in
the form of a bulletin.
Fishes, of course, cannot be trans
ported over great distances to tho place
of marketing, and there slaughtered;
nor will they remain for long periods
in an edible condition, like the cereals
and many vegetables. They are sub
| ject to quick decay after being taken
from the water, and hence the preser-
walton OF them is problem involving
difficulties,
Although this country is so famous
for its marine and other fishery pro-
ducts, it appears that methods Of pre-
serving many OF them are not so we'll
understood here as abroad, and on
this account some of our resources are
not adequately developed. For exam
pie, though the herring Is one Of the
most abundant OF fishes along the
coast of the United States, We import
annually over S2,000,000 worth Of her
rings. The most important industry
depending upon open-air refrigeration
is the freezing by natural cold of her
rings on the Newfoundland and New
Brunswick coasts for our own markets,
the trade averages 25,000,00o fishes a
year.
On the other hand, refrigeration by
artificial cold has enlarged and widen
ed the general Fishery trade so extern
sively that at present salmon fresh
from the Columbia river, hallbut from
Alaskan waters and oysters from Ches-
apeake bay and Long Island Sound
are sold throughout the United States
and in foreign countries. Already the
expectation of fish in fresh condition
from this country to Europe has be-
come q business OF Importance, the
shipments of salmon and steelhead
trout amounting TO several hundred
tons yearly. 1nis species Of trout has
been found remarkably we'll adapted
for long distance transportation, hav
ing comparatively little OIL and one is
on record where steeihaads frozen SOL
id and sent to England, were placed on
the market and had such a just-out-of-
the-water look that the dealer was ar
rested for having on sale fresh fish IL
legally caught.
When fish are preserved in cold stor-
age mold is apt to appear on them,
! and this is serious trouble The
| cause of it is not we'll understood, but
the necessity of fighting it is obvious,
and the Fish Commission recommend
| spraying the scaly merchandise with a
mild solution of that famous germ
| killer, formalin, to destroy the fungus
| spores. In the dried cod trade much
| loss has resulted from tendency of
| the fish to turn red some time after
they have been prepared for drying.
This trouble is especially noticeable in
the case of cod that have remained in
| the hold of a vessel for long time.
| Apparently the mischief is due to the
salt used for curing, which is apt to
! contain spores of a minute fungus that
contains red coloring natter The
! fungus has been found on the floors
and walls of some packing houses anu
| also in the holds Of some fishing YES
sells.
/ The preparation of boneless Goldfish
| is considered the most important i'm
| provement in the handling OF dried fish
| during the present century. For a
| long time the need was felt Of some
method of packing dried fish in neat
! parcels of small but definite weight,
and the most notable invention in this
! line was by Philadelphia, who pat
ented a process by which the fish were
! Invested Of skin and bones, thoroughly
| ground, pressed to remove oil, heated
to dryness. and finally put up in one
| pound boxes. The result was some
what similar to the celebrated fish
meal" OF Norway. Nowadays the
packing of skinned and boned coo is a
considerable industry. the fish being
cut into small pieces, pressed into
bricks, treated with an antiseptic pow