Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/186

 the cold storage of food is even more important when applied to fish. In cold storage fish are frozen solid and kept in this state until ready for consumption. Just how long the palatability and wholesomeness of fish can be preserved when frozen solid has not been determined. It follows logically that the colder the temperature the less the degree of deterioration, but it does not follow logically that this temperature can be maintained indefinitely without injuring the character of the product. One thing appears to be certain, namely, that the consumer is entitled to know whether in any given case the fish he purchases is a fresh or a cold storage article. At the present time, in so far as I know, there are no national, state, or municipal laws whereby this fact can be ascertained. Without raising the question of comparative value or palatability there is no doubt but what the consumer is entitled to know the character of the fish he purchases.

Canning Fish.—Allusion has already been made to the practice of canning fish, especially salmon. Great precautions must be used in cases of this kind, since fish is a food which tends to develop poisonous principles incident to decomposition. Canned fish, therefore, must be thoroughly sterilized so that no fermentative action tending to produce ptomain poison can possibly take place. It should be the duty of inspectors of food to frequently examine packages of canned fish to determine, first, by the external appearance of the can, and, second, by opening a certain number of them, whether any decomposition has taken place. Too great care cannot be exercised in this matter, since dangerous and often fatal results follow the consumption of spoiled fish.

Drying and Salting Fish.—The preservation of fish by pickling, salting, drying, and smoking is a great industry and produces some of the most palatable products. Mackerel, herring, and cod are types of fish which upon proper curing make a most delectable dish. Nothing but encouragement should be given to industries of this kind, but in order that they be of their true value they should be conducted properly with due regard to hygienic principles and for the sole purpose of making a wholesome and palatable product.

Adulteration of Fish Products.—Attention has already been called to the adulteration of salmon by canning an inferior grade or even a different kind of fish under the name of a better species. The same remark may be made respecting all fish, hake, haddock, and cusk being often offered as cod. In the case of sardines a similar practice is in vogue, and the small herring which are captured off the coast of Maine are often sold under the name of sardines. The substitution of one variety of fish for another, however, is injurious only in the way of fraud, the substitute fish presumably being of equal wholesomeness to the other under whose name it is sold. On the contrary, the form of sophistication which permits the introduction of deleterious