The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-02-10
EXPERIMENTS PROVE THEY ARE
OFTEN BETTER BURIED
THAN EATEN.

Sixty Firms Engaged in the Freezing
and Cold Storage of Fish Handle
$50, 100000 Worth of the Product
Annually. A Hundred Million
''Strictly Fresh" Eggs Kept for
Months by the Egg Trust.
Civilization demands cold storage.
1t is absolutely necessary for the
handling of many kinds of food prod
ucts. Up to a certain point it does
no harm. But the Investigations of
the bureau of chemistry (Which is a
branch of the department of agri-
culture) appear to show that the
methods adopted need regulation, es-
pecially with regard to the length
of time during which chickens, eggs
and other food supplies are pre-
served, in order that the health of
consumers may not suffer, writes
Rene Bach.
1t has always been claimed by the
cold storage people that decay is abb
sOlutely arrested, or prevented, by
the low temperature they employ,
In a certain sense this is true. But
changes nevertheless go on under
such conditions and are steadily pro-
gressive. The tissues of a chicken,
for example, undergo a sort of grad
ual disintegratiOn and softening
Thus, when, after many months, the
bird is thawed and put on the mar
ket for sale it is in a condition to
invite attack by putrefactive organ
1sms. In word, it shows a ten
dency to decay with extraordinary
rapidity.
Briefly stated, the conclusion
drawn from the experiments is that
for six weeks no perceptible change
occurs in a frozen chicken. After
three months the cold storage bird
is easily distinguished from the
1resh-killed, even after cooking.
From this time on the differences
become more and more marked and
obvious. The bureau quotes eminent
physicians as declaring that frequent
ly IN their practice intestinal disturb
anceS, suggestive of ptOmaine poison
ing, have been traceable to cold stor-
age birds.
To certain extent, doubtless, cold
storage is an economic necessity. 1t
would not be practicable to handle
the chicken crop without it. But
this does not imply that birds should
be kept until they are no longer fit
to be eaten. Incidentally, it is a mis-
fortune from tho CT
Sumers, that the operations of the
cold storage concerns should render
1t almost impossible to buy fresh
Gnickens at any season of the year.
Now, where eggs are concerned,
the state of affairs at the present
time is such that fresh ones cannot
be had at any season, even when
they are most plentiful, unless one
lives IN the country, or pays a special
price to some farmer to deliver them.
This is because in early Spring and
summer, when they are cheapest.
they are purchased by millions from
the farmers of the great chicken-rais-
ing regions of Missouri and the mid
die west for storage until the sea-
son of high prices shall arrive.
These are the eggs which supply the
market in the autumn and following
winter and even through the subse-
quent Spring. Commercially they
are termed strictly fresh" and are
readily recognizable by a peculiar
musty flavor.
The egg crop of this country is,
of course, enormous, the size of it
being expressed in figures which al
most suggest the fabulous. Last
year 100000 cases of eggs were mt
into cold storage in the United
states, each case containing 80 doz-