The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-24
FISH FREEZING
INDUSTRY DOING
IMPORTANT WORK

important kind, according to ERNEST
D. Clark, investigator in fish for the
United States Bureau of Agriculture.
In a recent interview he said: But
for the fact that fish can be frozen
and held in storage for months with
out important change in food value
or flavor, vast quantities of fish would
go to waste, and this valuable nitro
genous food and substitute for meat
would be scarce or even unobtainable
except in the smoked, sailed, or can
ned form, during a large part of the
year The additional fact that fish
properly frozen and in closed in a
protective glaze of clear ice may be
shipped long distances without deter
| ioration permits many inland COM
munities to obtain in the winter ia
vorite varieties taken from distant
| waters.
| without such conservation blue
fish would be on the market for only
a few weeks, and then mostly in the
vicinity of certain waters; Salmon,
unless canned or smoked, would be
unknown in many sections; there
would be no countrywide inter
change of halibut, pike, mackerel
snelts, and other popular fish; and
during the winter, when storms pre-
vent fishing and schools of fish mi
CRATE to deep water or southwark,
fish of many varieties would be a
costly delicacy instead of occupying
Their matter-of-fact place on the
| table.
| Each fishing season large guam
titles were saved, as they still are,
by canning, smoking, sailing and
picking. Freezing and storage, how
ever, has the advantage over these
other methods, in that it does not
alter the flavor or appearance of
fish, and therefore makes available
months later, in almost the natural
condition, the spring or summer
catches of siene or hook.
THE fsh-freezing plants located at
| many points of our coasts and the
Great Lakes, and constituting an i'm
portant industry, are becoming in
creasingly useful as sources Of food
to make up the deficiencies in the
meat supply. Their work is true food
conservation. Harvests of fish, I'M
like land crops, add to rather than
take from the fertility of our soils.
Meat represents the conversion by
animals of grain or other foodstuffs
into another form of food. Fish, how
ever, represents the conversion of
valueless aquatic vegetation or ami
mai material into human food, and,
had merely for the labor of harvest
ing, they are a net gain in the food
supply.
THE average period of storage for
fish, as shown by Investigation and
statistics, is approximately only eight
months. Much frozen fish, however,
is sold within a few months after it
is stored, and only rarely are patches
of fish held as long as twelve months
Careful analysis of fish properly
stored for such periods fails to in
dictate any important change in the
food value of the fish, or to reveal
any noticeable alteration in the fla
1 vor. To study in a practical way the
effect of freezing storage on flavor,
a test was arranged with a large
group of people who were unaware
they were being used for subjects
These people were served half por-
ton of fresh fish (ackerel) and a
half portion of the same species OF
the fish properly frozen and stored for
nine months. The average individual
was unable to distinguish between
the fresh fish and the frozen fish, and
a number expressed a preference for
1 the frozen lot.
Fresh fish properly frozen, glaz-
ed and held at low temperatures for
nine months show no important
g changes in composition to the food
chemists or bacteriologist. No. les
v SEEMING of palatability noticeable the
average housewife occurs. This is to
be expected, as freezing, unlike os:
other preservative measures, takes
nothing from the fish and adds moth
ing to it, except thin outer cover
ing of ice, which soon neIs upon
thawing the fish for consumption. The
low temperatures at which the flesh
= is held in storage are well designed
to prevent chemical or other changes
over number of months The freez-
: er can deliver fish practically as good
: as but not better than that which il
< receives.
To determine the behavior of fish
under storage, the Bureau of Chem
lstry held fish for the excessively lone
? period of twenty-seven months in cold
Y storage under its control. At differ
ent periods sample lots of fish were
! withdrawn and analysed. These
studies showed no significant differ.
ence in composition between the
frozen fish and fresh fish of the same
species. OF special interest is the fact
that no loss of those heterogeneous con-
stituents which gives to fish its .chiet
food value was noted.
when frozen fish have thawed
they are as perishable as fresh fish
and should be consumed as quickly as
possible. Even partial thawing les
sens greatly the perfect protection OF
glazing and hard freezing. Retailers
therefore, should make every effort
to have their frozen fish reach them
with glaze unimpaired After the
fish reach them the retailers should
make every effort to keep them hare
frozen and glazed until they are &C
tually sold. This best can be accom-
plished by ordering frequently anC
not inexcess of immediate sale. Gus
toners should be encouraged to bu,
fish in the hard frozen state, eithet
to be thawed out to order by the re
taller or, even better, delivered tt
the housewife hard frozen. She the1
should place them in a. covered uten
sill in the refrigerator, or other col,
place, and allow them to thaw grad
ually Fish should never be thawet
by exposure to heat or by soakinj
in either cold or warm water. Sucl
rapid methods lessons their foo(
value, and tends to dissolve out fla
vors essential to their palatability.