Food Storage and Transport

Abstract

ON September 7, Sir Frank Smith, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, delivered the Hardy Memorial Lecture before the British Association at Aberdeen, in which he paid tribute to the work of the late Sir William Hardy, who during the last seventeen years of his life, devoted much of his time to research on the transport and storage of foodstuffs. Sir Frank described the work being done on the kippered herring at the Torry Research Station, Aberdeen, which was founded by Sir William Hardy. A new kippering kiln has been evolved there, in which all variables such as temperature, humidity, etc., can be controlled. Thus, any desired cure can be produced with certainty.’ At the same station, a new kind of mild salted herring has been produced by the combined processes of salting and chilling. About 1,600 steam trawlers fish from the ports of Great Britain, landing nearly 700,000 tons of white fish valued at about 12 £ million sterling each year. Storage in crushed ice, under conditions prevailing when Hardy took up the problem in 1929, could only hold such fish fresh for 6-7 days. To-day, work at the Torry Station has extended that period to 12 days, by reducing bacterial contamination. Further work has shown that freezing in brine at –20 ° C. and storing at the same temperature will keep the fish for three months. The 10,000-ton vessel Arctic Queen, fitted as a floating factory for halibut, was also described. The importance of refrigeration cannot be over-emphasised in connexion with food storage and transport. Sir William Hardy's fruitful work along these lines was fittingly described by Sir Frank. Thanks largely to the work of Sir William, it is realised to-day that the biologist must formulate the condition required in food storage and transport, and the engineer provide those conditions. The problems of the biologist concern not only methods of refrigeration itself, but also cleanliness, damage to foods by cold, etc. The most recent developments in gas storage using carbon dioxide, and in the storage of living material such as fruit, were also discussed by Sir Frank.