PRESERVING FOOD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 618, 24 August 1933, Page 7

PRESERVING FOOD

BY GAS STORAGE NEW MEHTOD POSSESSES BIG POTENTIALITIES • TO N.Z. AUTHORITY'S F0R1E.CAST. That cold was ia powerful agent fqr the preservation of fresh food was* probably known to primitive man. It was not, however, until the modern era of applied science produced mechanical refrigeration that widespread lapplicatioh jof this knowledge was made. It is just .ahout fifty years since the first shipment of frozen meat left New Zealand for Britain, and the development of cold stora-ge, both ashore and afloat,- may be said to be an .affair which has occupied the last fifty years and in which progress is still being made. To this development thousands of inventors, engi-' needs, biologists have contributed, and research stations have been busy with experimental equipment. Temperature control had, until rcently, come to be looked upon as the most powerful agency at our command for the preservation of fresh foods during storage and transport. But of late the control of the composition of the atmosphere — 'gas-stor-age — has come to the fore. The present psition with regard to gas-stor-age is just about where we stood fifty years or more in regard to cold storage, that is to say, at the very beginning, remarks Dr. Franklin Kidd, of the Cambridge Low Temperature Station. The broad principle, he says, has been established clearly and without question that gas-storage with temperature control is the most powerful agent in fresh food preservation, but almost everything in the way of detailed application has yet to he worked out. The full development of the inherent possibilities of gasstorage will take many years, adds Dr. Kidd, so anyone who thinks that the recent successful 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. Those who know anything about it realise that there is much to be learned yet. Progressivc Experiments. Dr. Kidd, in a recent address, traced the early experiments made by the Food Investigation Board. The scientists working for this board investi•gated the effect of carbon dioxide gas upon the germination, respiration, and life-duration of seeds. The work was then extended to fruit preservation by atmosphere-control, with the dom'iant idea taht atmosphere-control might prove elfective in the absence of temperature control and thus serve as an alternative to the use of cold storage. Experiments with apples, however, proved that for nearly all purposes temperature control is cssential in the gas-storage of fruit. Experiments did not stop at fruit. It was amply demonstrated that the time limits for the chilled storage of meat and fish' could he considerably extended hy the use of atmosphere control in addition to low temperature. The degree to which different sorts of fungi and hacteria are affected by carbon dioxide is not always the same. Some are very little affected, but iS appears to be a fortunate accident that the important ones in meat, fish, and egg storage are among those which are most sensitive to carbon dioxide. Breakfast Ifept Fresh. Gas-storage is the only method at present known by which mild-cured bacon 01* 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 4-r%_/lo-fT ]?Tivnr\Q ol-»nnf q r?n7.P"n at.nv-P.s

LU Uaj i.i.1 LAJ, UjJV/ UWWWV Mr using this process, and their capacity is 100,000,000 eggs. Only one such store is in England. "The commercial adoption of gasstorage for beef is a matter which, at the moment appears to he of interest mainly to the Australian and New Zealand producers, wh'o are definitely looking for a method of extending the life of chilled beef," says Dr. Kidd. "A wider view is that, if the method yields a ibetter product even after shorter periods of storage, it must eventually hecome 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 gases 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 the 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 gasstorage, 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 this matter of atmosphere control in fresh food preservation. It is, I think, not of inconsiderable national importance that we should reap the benefit of the start we have made."