Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-10-24
WARNING FOR THE
POULTRY SHIPPER
Last Years Big Losses in
Dressed Poultry May Be Avoid
ed, Says Government.
CAREFUL KILLING AND PACK

The fact that it will soon be one
year since the calamitous dressed
poultry season of 1918 wrecked many
handlers of poultry, sent tens of
thousands of pounds of chickens,
turkeys, ducks and geese to the
crematory and left the consumer
with such strong aversion to the
taste of the poultry that reached the
market in "off condition that sales
have suffered ever since. is being
used as the text of the sermon which
experts in poultry handling in the
United states Department of Agri-
culture are preaching to poultry
shippers all over the country.
Shippers agree that the spoilage of
dressed poultry during the autumn
of 1913 was unparalleled, and. that
the rest Of the year has been, finan-
cially. one of the worst on record de-
spite the scarcity of meat. Spe-
cialsts in the department consider
that the blame rests chiefly upon the
man who killed, picked. chilled and
packed the poultry and sent il TO
market. This man bought the birds
alive, hence they were not decayed
when he got them. The railroads,
in general, have worked diligently at
their refrigerator lines and 1t is well
known that shippers who packed
their goods properly found the rail-
road service last autumn sufficiently
satisfactory to deliver the product in
good order The receivers of poultry
We're hunting for stock that could be
sold to a, high class trade but the
Inspector did not have to look far
for poultry that was absolutely unfit
for food
The department. accompanies its
words of warning with words of adj
vice to the poultry dressers, telling
them how TO handle the birds to en-
sure high quality and minimum
change in composition.
Advice to Poultry Dressers.
First The packer, as soon as the
birds are received, should transfer
them to holding batteries, which
only few birds are in the same
compartment. All have. an equal
chance to get food, each has an
abundance of fresh air, and absolute
cleanliness is easily maintained.
Second-For twenty-four hours be-
| fore killing the bird is not fed. but
is given plenty of clean water. In
this way the crop is emptied and the
flavor of the flesh is improved, as
well as its keeping quality. or
| course. the bird does not weigh as
much when emptied of food but it
| is better to be paid for few less
/ pounds of poultry than TO receive
! only a freight bin.
| Third Killing should be done by
cutting the veins of the neck from
inside the mouth While the bird is
suspended by the feet. Circular 81
| OF the Bureau of Chemistry gives the
details Of how TO bleed and to'.brain";
| that is, to loosen the feather muscles
I so that the birds may be dry-piclxed,
not scalded. Sealded birds have their
/ keeping quality greatly reduced.
Fourth Holding the bird While re-
moving the feathers is best accom-
! plished by the frame method. The
| second best way is what is, known as
] the string method, and the worst
methods are the bench and lap"
Cooling Dressed Poultry.
Fifth-After the birds are bled and
/ picked the animal heat must be re-
moved. The best method of doing SO
it 10 hang Them. head downward, in
I a room having Il temperature between
80 and So degrees Fahrenheit, where
! they should remain for twenty -four
J hours. The temperature must not &C
I above IS nor below % degrees, and
the atmosphere cannot be depended
upon to remain within these limits
hence mechanical refrigeration is an
absolute necessity. If the packers
/ last season had adhered TO this ons
regulation, it is safe to assert thai
| the inspectors in the markets woulc
! have had to hunt a long time for 4
"green-strucl' or ''off conditioned
chicken Putting the birds in cole