Evening star., 1938-03-16


to no avail, for the sea retains her
mystery by not divulging all that she
knows.
But with all Of the spectacular
treasures that the sea has yielded,
there is still another one that rich
and poor alike may enjoy, and one
that the cook gets real thrill out
of handling, and that is sea food.
Sportsmen spend hours and days
riding the waves or wading in a
stream in hopes OF landing the prize
catch Of the season. And believe me
a fisherman's story is better than
golfers any day in the year.
But the men that we have to thank
are the real fishermen who bring in
boat loads of sea food for us to enjoy,
in the raw state or after the cook has
transformed the fish into a tasty and
nourishing dish.
The products of the sea are among
our most perishable foods, therefore
always presenting a special problem
in distribution, as they are usually
consumed hundreds of miles from
where they were caught.
For many years the housewife went
her wary way selecting her fish the
best she could, relying on her own
ability to judge its quality. But now
her task is much easier due to i'm
proved methods of preserving and gov
ernment inspection has come to her
aid
The Bureau of Home Economics of
the United States Department of Agri-
culture tells us that many states and
municipal governments have their
own inspectors to watch the shipment
of fresh sea food, and to see that
they are preserved under sanitary
conditions. they also make certain that
oyster beds are kept clean and health
full
The Federal Government watches
food that goes into interstate COM
merce to detect any that is impure
or unwholesome. In the past three
years they have even gone further
than that in their inspection of
canned shrimp. Last year represen-
tatives Of the government supervised
every step in the canning of over one
million standard cases of shrimp.
rTHOSE million cases represented
over nine-tenths of the largest
pack of shrimp ever put up. And
each can of those million cases bears
label reading Production Supervised
by U. S. Food and Drug Administra-
ton
This label is also the Gamers as
surance that his canned shrimp will
safely pass through interstate COM
merce and not be found unsatis-
factory. Since the shrimp Gamers
have had this inspection their prod
uct has increased considerably in
popularity.
This complete Federal supervision
was made available by the Sea Food
Amendment to the Federal Food and
Drug Act. The sea food amendment
makes the inspection service avail
able to the packer of any sea food
willing to pay for it. For the past
two years, through an appropriation
by Congress, the Government has
shared this expense with the Gamer
So far only the shrimp Gamers have
! made use of it,
Other Federal Government protec-
ton to the consumer is confined to
foods that enter interstate commerce.
AS far as possible inspectors detect
food that may be adulterated or un-
wholesome. They see that cans Of
food are labeled properly, inspect
canneries for sanitary conditions
In the case of anything so perish
able as sea food the more quickly in
spection can be carried out the better.
Last year, for this reason, the Fed
eral Government inspectors set up a
laboratory in trailer. This spring,
the inspectors in their travelling la
boratory are already visiting the scene
of crab packing along the southern
coast of the United States. There
they are checking up on the sanitary
condition of the crab packing plants.
If the condition of the plants seems
bit questionable the inspectors make