The Republican journal., 1915-04-22
Sardine Pack Improved.
Maine Packers Giving Attention to Pro-
ducinp A Quality Sardine.

The pack of American sardines during
the past season was improved 80 per
cent in quality, according to the food
specialists of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, who have been
conducting an experimental laboratory
at Eastport, Maine, during the past two
packing seasons. This has been brought
about by the fact that the demonstra-
lions in the laboratory have shown the
Maine Gamers the advantage of improv
ed methods and of striving to make a
quality sardine to meet the demand for a
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 a can of goods
that could be sold at some profit for the
low prices then offered by the iobbers
and the wholesalers. Under such condi-
tons the packing establishments natur
ally had tendency to work for speed
rather than quality in packing.
Under the old form CT 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 we'll as the
small herring which is the American
sardine. They also frequently packed
what were known as "feedy' fish.
These were fish that had fed plentifully
on a microscopic crustacean and small
shrimp. When the fish We're packed
with their bodies full of this feed,
changes in the food had tendency to
soften the flesh of the fs! with the re-
suit that they broke before placing them
in the cans. After the packers began to
compete on quality rather than cost
basis simple way of doing away with
'Efeedy" fish was employed. All that is
necessary is to leave the sardines for a
short time in the weirs in which they
are caught, until they can digest the
shrimp and small crustaceans.
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 weirs. In other cases
the fish were mutiated by bad handling
or kept so 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 oil-canned fish. Under the
new methods the boats are equipped
with better tanks and care is being taken
TO get the fish quickly to the packers and
into the steam cooker or fryer in good
condition.
In preparing the fish for the cans,
especially in the case of small fish, there
was a tendency, because of the haste,
to pull their heads off with fingers in
stead of cutting them properly with
shears. This pulling or "snipping" as
it is called, frequently left portions of
the hard gills of the fish in the can and
Gnese gills frequently separated from the
fish, leaving inedible portions in the oil
and giving it an undesirable look. In
der TIE new competition in quality, fish
are being brought to the packing houses
IN much better condition and are ng
handled there much more carefully so as
70 get them into the cans in as nearly
perfect condition as possible.
The most marked improvement, how
ever, has been the interest the packers
have taken in cleaning up their factories,
especially in seeing that the flakes on
which the fish are dried, the steam
cookers, and the other machinery for
handling and canning, are kept IN good
condition. Under the old system not
only the condition of the floors but of
the tables as well, was frequently disre-
garded. This year practically every
factory in Maine has cleaned its floors
and put its tables and other working
equipment in such shape that clean
product can be produced. The factories
are also prohibiting the throwing around
of refuse and requiring the Cleaning up
of floors and other parts of the factory
as rapidly as they are soiled. In the
case of the flakes or wire-mesh frames
anr which the fish are dried and then sent
into the steam room, the greater atten-
lion to cleanliness has had marked
effect on the appearance of the canned
product. Under the old system when
these fakes were not always cleaned af-
Ter each ran, parts of the cooked fish
chung to the meshes. 1t was found that
these fragments of fish and the condition
of the flakes made it practically impos-
sible to produce can of sardines in
clear, clean oil, as the fragments on the
flakes would stick to the new fish and
Ncelor the oil in the can. During the last
season practically all of the packers paid
IN arked attention to these matters with
the result that this years product in
quality of fish and oil is held by experts
and by the trade to be far superior to
previous runs.