PRESERVING FOOD

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 19 August 1933, Page 7

PRESERVING FOOD

GAS STORAGE METHOD AUTHORITY’S FORECAST. NEW ERA DAWNING. That cold was a powerful agent foi the preservation of fresh food was probaoly known to primitive man. It was not, however, until the model n era of applied science produced mechanical refrigeration that widespread application of this knowledge was made. It is just about fifty years since the first shipments oi frozen meat left New Zealand for Britain, and the development of cold storage, both ashore anci afloat, may be said to to

an affair which has occupied the lasti fifty years and in which progress isJ still being made. To this development] ■ thousands of inventors, engineers, and biologists have contributed, and :e- ----; search stations have been busy w.th r experimental equipment. Temperature control had, until recently,-come to be looked upon as the most powerful agency at our command for the preser- [ vation of fresh foods during storage and transport. But of-late the control 1 of the tomI position of the atmosphere—gas-stor-age—has come to the fore. The piesent position with regard to gas-stor ige is just about where we stood fifty years or more ago in regard , o cold storage, that is to say. at the. 'cry beginning, remarks Dr Franklin Iv’chl, of the Cambridge Low (Temperature Station. The broad principle, ne says, has been established clearly without [

question that gas-storage with teni- • peratuie control is the most powerful \ agent in fresh food preservation, but | almost everything in the way of detailed application has yet to be w irked , out. The full development of thinherent possibilties of gas-storage will take many years, adds Dr Kidd, so anyone who thinks that the recent .-uc~ cessful shipment of chilled beef sent to England from these shores, in which gas-storage with temperature control was practised, is the last word in this . new process must revise his ideas, j Those who know anything about it I realise that there is- much to be learned vet. -PROGRESSIVE EXPERIMENTS. | I Dr Kidd, in a recent address, traced ' the early experiments' made by the 1 Food Investigation Board. The seien- 1 tists working for this board invest!- j gated the effect of carbon dioxide gas! upon the germination, respiration, and: I life-duration of seeds. r l*he work was j then extended to fruit preservation , by j ! atmosphere-control, with the dominant l ! idea that atmosphere-control might i ' prove effective in the absence of tern-! perature control and thus serve as an i alternative to the use of cold stor- f age. Experiments with apples, how- ( ever, proved that for nearly all pur-; poses' temperature control is essential in the gas-storage of fruit. I Experiments did not stop at fruit, j It was amply demonstrated that the time limits for chilled storage of meat and fish could be considerably extended; by the use of atmosphere control in ■ addition to low temperatures. The, degree to which different sorts of fungi i ’ and bacteria are affected bv carbon i dioxide is not always the same. Some': are very little affected, but it appears . to be a fortunate accident that the im-'. port ant ones in meat, fish and egg storage are among those which are ' , most sensitive to carbon dioxide. ] BREAKFAST KEPT FRESH. j !

Gas-storage is the only method at present known by which niikl-cured bacon or ham can be stored for more than six weeks. Under gas-storage mild-cured bacon has been held in perfect condition for 18 weeks. The accompanying breakfast delicacy, the egg of the hen, responds equally well to gas-storage treatment. There are today in Europe about a dozen stores 1 using this process, and their capacity, is 100.000,OCX) eggs. Only one such l store is in England. | “The commercial adoption of gas- 1 storage for beef is a matter which, at the moment, appears to be of interest mainly to the Australian and New Zealand producers, who are definitely looking for a method of extending the. life of chilled beef.” says Dr Kidd. “A wider view Ts that, if the method yields a better product oven after shorter periods of storage, it must eventually become generally adopted. In the meantime The shipping companies are beginning to look into such matters as the gas-tightness of holds' and. methods of atmosphere control ■ with a view to possible developments in gas-storage in overseas .transport.”

LEAD GIVEN BY BRITAIN. * Other gasses besides carbon dioxide and oxygen are being experimented with for gas-storage purposes. “Atmospheric control has already come widely into use,” concludes Dr Kidd, “and its development of its inherent possibilities is a matter of very general interest, and even of national importance. The position to-day is a pregnant one. In the field of gas-storage, knowledge is ahead of application. The biologist seems to be ahead of the engineer. It is not impossible that we are on the eve of a new era in the evolution of storage methods. England is at present a- pioneer and leader in thi s matter of atmosphere control in fresh food preservation. Tt is, I think.! not of inconsiderable national import-1 since that we should reap the benefit of the start we have made.”