Page:Principles preservation fish by salt.djvu/19

Rh temperature, 98° F. The autolytic enzymes act under a slightly acid condition. In neutral or alkaline medium they act very little, if at all. It has been noticed by various investigators that autolysis does not begin until two to four hours after death. During rigor mortis there is a decided development of acid that may very materially promote autolysis. It may therefore be that salting fish immediately after capture would strike through the fish before autolysis gains any headway. It may be possible, also, to take advantage of the removal of soluble products by brine in the salvaging of fish on the point of spoiling. Fish that have been held a long time are soft and of a disagreeable odor, because autolysis and possibly some bacteria have decomposed the tissues to some extent.

One might reasonably expect research to show that if rapid penetration is secured by means of pure salt the amino acids and other sour or disagreeable substances in stale fish resulting from autolysis would be removed by changing brine a few times, leaving the fish in a condition quite wholesome and fit for food. It is, of course, not intended here to encourage the practice of holding fish until they are bad and then salting them, but it is recognized that it is in the public interest neither to destroy food that can be used nor to market fish unfit for food, and it is recognized as legitimate and desirable to develop a means of saving fish whenever they have, through the unavoidable exigencies of the fishing business, come near to spoiling.

It would not be profitable to present this complicated subject any further here. Enough has been said to show that the loss in salting fish by solution of protein in brine is very great. Some discussion has been presented which will serve to show that losses of this kind are preventable, to point out the probable direction in which the remedy for this great loss will be found, and also, we hope, to assist in convincing the skeptics that scientific work on this aspect of the salting process would be worth while. It is of the greatest importance that research work be undertaken for the purpose of discovering the conditions under which the cell proteins are digested and pass out and for ascertaining the conditions under which these processes may be arrested. Specifically, such questions as follow should be answered: Once the permeability of cells has been increased by abnormally high or low temperature, does this increased permeability persist after a normal temperature has been restored? When autolysis is set in action by a bruise, do autolytic enzymes affect only the part bruised or do they escape and attack the uninjured cells, destroying them also? To what extent does the acid of rigor mortis accelerate autolysis, and can this acceleration be prevented by early application of salt? To what extent is loss of soluble material in brine due to rough handling and to what extent to other factors? Can advantage safely be taken of the removal of products of protein decomposition by brine to salvage fish that are on the point of spoiling?

In the various processes of salting or pickling fish the fish receive no preliminary treatment, or they may be gibbed, beheaded, split through belly, split through back, or cleaned perfectly by being cut