COOL STORAGE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 9

COOL STORAGE

THE WORK OF RESEARCH

CAMBRIDGE STATION

Thanks to a gift of money from the Empire Marketing Board, the low temperature research station at Cambridge has been greatly extended. The station is under, the Department of Seieutifie and Industrial .^Research, and, as is well known, it has done remarkable work in the interests of, Empire trade. Thanks to one of the discoveries made by the station, the imported apple trade has been revolutionised. A thorough investigation of the cold storago of meat, with special rot'qrence to New Zealand lamb, is now being made. A "Times" special correspondent who has just been on a visit to the station gives some interesting particulars, . The older part *of the building (ho writes) has boon in v.so for about eight years, The site was given by the University of Cambridge, which is actively assisting the work- in other ways through its own physiological, botanical, . and chemical laboratories. The work of the tow Temperature Station is now concerned exclusively .with meat and fruit. Formerly it dealt also with fyh, but art inland station cannot do such work satisfactorily, and the Empire Marketing Board is therefore helpjng to establish a station for the- purpose at Aberdeen. Tho function of the station hero is delimited ill. another direction also. It may be called upon to decide what conditions of temperature and SO forth are needed in the Bhipment of supplies from oversea countries; but, these conditions having been theoretically deter) lined in the Cambridge laboratories, the provision of them on board ship becomes an engineering problem, and this side of the task dovolvoa on tho National Physical Laboratory at Ted* dington, : The Jjow Temperature- Station is lavishly equipped with cold-storage plant, and other apparatus, in which products under examination may^' be kept at any required temperature and under closely regulated conditions in other respects, Qsq was admitted to a chamber at a temperature of, minus 20 deg-,'. Centigrade—ritt certainly, folt intensely cold-—and one learned that any temperature could be produced between minus 30deg. and plus 40deg. and kept constant fco. a hundredth of a degree. Sir' William Hardy explained that it takej some months in the first instance to extract all the heat from the installation and get the conditions steady. The refrigerating engines are kept continuously at work. They had been running without a pause for eight years until this su,mmer, when they were stopped to allow the now installation to be linked up with tho older plant, Immense advances have been made' in a few years (in the provision of facilities for the' keeping of food at low temperatures, and so in good condition, over long periods. Fruits are on sale in this country to-day which not many years ago wbro known only by hearsay here, and tho seasons for other fsuita have been greatly lengthened by the same means. Sir William, however, said that there was still a lot to be learned about the carriage of foodstuffs if losses in transit were to be. reduced to a. minimum. The station is working on a variety of problems at the moment. Ono concern* a form of rot which attacks the stalks qJ bananas, spreading to the friiit, What causes this- rotting, at what,stage it begins, and how it may bo prevented are problems which in' volve, not only prolonged .md accurate investigation in the laboratories here, but visits to the docks and examination of a ship's log books to learn how quickly the temperature of her hold has been reduced. Thero are definite limits of temperature and humidity within which each variety of fruit must be kept if it is to stay in good condition, ajid they vary for. different kinds q£ fruit. The apple is quite different from tho pear in its requirements, and both will differ from the mango, . On two occasions members of the staff have been sent out to Australia to return with cargoes an^ conduct investigations during tho voyago, A survey is starting at presont of conditions in ships- bringing foodstuffs from New Zealand, and a similar survey has been in progress for the last two years on British trawlors. Municipal authorities and private fruit dealers in this country also bring their problems to the station. A dealer may write to ask why all his pears are turning rotten this year. In such a case the director will send one of his staff to make an investigation on. the spot. The station has also a small canning plant of its own for research into tho separate problems of this growing industry.