The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-04-24
IMPROVE AMERICAN SARDINE PACK
Maine Packers Giving Attention To Pro-
ducing a Quality Sardine.

mdiHc TdChcis OiNinB AtNoHtioH AZ Tio
ducing Quality Sardine.
| Washington, ID. c., April 24.-The pack
of American sardines during the past sea.
son was improved 80 per cent. in quail.
lily, according to the food specialists OF
the United States department of agricul-
ture, who have been conducting an ex-
detrimental laboratory at PASSPORT, Me-
during the past two packing seasons.
This has been brought about by the fact
that the demonstrations in the labora-
tory have shown the Maine Gamers the
advantage OF improved methods and of
striving to make a quality sardine to
meet the demand for better class of
goods which the wars interference with
imports has largely Increased. Before
the laboratory was established the Maine
packers were competing bitterly amongst
themselves in an effort to produce can
of goods that could be sold at some
profit for the low prices then offered by
the iobbers and the wholesalers. Under
such conditions the packing establish
ments naturally had tendency to work
l. for speed rather than quality in pack
ling.
Under the old form Of competition
some of the packers paid very little at
tention to the character or size OF the
fish and some at times packed alewives,
silver hake and smelt as well as the
small herring which is the American sar-
dine. They also frequently packed what
were known as "feedy'' fish, These We're
fish that had fed plent.fully, on mi
croscopic crustacean and small shrimp.
When the fish were packed with their
bodies full OF this feed, changes in the
food had tendency to soften the flesh
of the fish, with the result that they
broke before placing them in the cans.
After the packers began to compete on
quality rather than a cost basis nj
simple way of doing away with 'feedy"
fish was employed. All that is neees-
sary is to leave the sardines for short
time in the weirs in which they arel
caught, until they can digest the shrimp
and small crustaceans.
Another tendency under the former
hurried methods of packing the fish was
to over salt them or to leave them too
long in brine in the boats which bring |
them from the weifs. In other cases
the fish were mutilated by bad handling |
or kept 50 long before cooking that they
lost much OF their flavor. Excessive
sailing also destroyed the delicate flavor
of the fish and made them salt fish"
rather than oiI-canned fish Under the
new methods the boats are equipped with
better tanks and care is being taken to
get the fish quickly 10 the packers and
into the steam cooker or fryer in good
condition.
In preparing the fish for the cans, es-
pecially in the case of small fish, there
was tendency, because OF the haste,
to pull their heads off with fingers in
stead of emitting them properly with
shears. This pulling or shipping" as II
is called. frequently left portions of the
hard gills OF the fish in the can and these
yills frequently separated from the fish,
leaving inedible portions in the oil and
giving it an undesirable look. Under
he new competition in quality, fish are
being brought TO the packinghouses in
much better conditions and are being
handled there much more carefully so
Is TO get them into the cans in as nearly I,
perfect condition as possible.
The most marked improvement. how
IL
ave taken in cleaning mp their factories,
specially in seeing that the flakes on ,
s hich the fish are dried. the steam cook
RS. and the other machinery for hand
ing and canning. are kept in good cond-
ion. Under the old system not only
he condition of the floors but of the
ables as well, was frequently disregard.
4. This year practically every factory I
n Maine has cleaned its floors aud put =
Is tables and other working equipment d
n such shape that a clean product can I
Q produced. The factories are also pro.
hitting the throwing around OF refuse Y
nd requiring the cleaning up of floors 4
nd other parts of the factory as rapid a
: a. they are soiled. In the case OF :,
he flakes or wire mesh frames on which n
he fish are cried and then sent. into the
the greater attention 20 IN,
eanliness has had marked effect ON !,
be- appearance OF the canned product. o
nder the old system when these flakes n,
err not ALWAYS cleaned after each run. !,
arts Of rocked iish chung 60 the mesbcs. a
was found that these fragments of
n and thc condition Of the flakes made
practical, impossible 60 produce l, =
in Of sardincs in clear. clean oil. a. =
10 fragments on tho flakes would stick 81
the new ish and color the Oh IN the
IN. During the last season practically ~
! Of the packers paid marked attention u
these matters With the result that a
.is wears product IN quality 81 fish and y
i held bv experts and hy the trade ui
be- far superior 90 the previous runs