CHAPTER XIV COLD STORAGE The series of inventions during the last one hundred and fifty years giving us our modern system of mechanical refrigeration and cold storage marks one of the great triumphs of civilization. The preservation of food by canning was an important step. But the present use of refrigeration in the saving of food is a vastly more important advance. Perishable foodstuffs, fresh and in good condition, may now be found on the tables of the poorest of our people, foodstuffs hundreds or even thousands of miles from the place of their production, and many weeks or months after the time of their production. The seasonal nature of certain farm products makes it advisable to store them in the time of plenty that they may be consumed in the time of relative scarcity. Thus half the fresh butter produced in the country goes to the market during the four summer months, May, June, July, August. The heavy producing season for eggs is the three-month period, April, May, June, equalling the remaining nine months. The seasonal production of foods and the consequent seasonal ebb and flow of these goods in and out of cold storage is illustrated by the case of butter and eggs. The graphs (Figs. 40 and 41) show receipts and deliveries of butter and eggs in the Quincy (Massachusetts) Cold Storage and Warehouse Company's plant for two years. The graphs clearly illustrate the chief function of cold storage, namely, to equalize the distribution of seasonal products throughout the year. In other words, cold storage acts like a reservoir, receiving the surplus flow of goods when production exceeds demand and a market glut is impending, and giving out these same goods when production has fallen off and a market scarcity is impending. The public is thus benefited by having a greater variety of food during all seasons of the year. A second function of cold storage, equally important, is the transportation, under refrigeration, of perishable foods in good condition to the consumer. Thus Imperial Valley cantaloupes reach the New England consumer's table without harmful exposure to heat and without deterioration of quality. In the same manner lemons from Italy, oranges from California, pineapples from Hawaii, all reach the distant consumer in a fresh condition. Similarly, mutton from Australia and beef from Argentine are served in a wholesome con THE SEASONAL PRODUCTION OF FOODS 215 dition on the table in England. Obviously the producer benefits by thus finding markets, and at the same time the consumer bene Number of Cases in Thousands Apr. Jun. Aug. Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun. Aug Oct 1909 FIG. 40.-Cold storage. Cases of eggs received and delivered. fits by having a large volume of food reach the market without waste or decomposition. The importance of this factor in time of great emergencies and national crises is well illustrated by our experience in exporting fresh meat to our soldiers and to most of our allies during the World War. Hundreds of carloads of fresh meats were rushed from the packers to the seaboard. Owing to freight congestion and shortage of ships, much of this meat had 6 COLD STORAGE Pounds of Butter Received and Delivered Apr Jun. Aug. Oct Dec. Feb Apr Jun. Aug. Oct. Dec. Feb Mar 1909 1910 FIG. 41. Cold storage. Pounds of butter received and delivered. 1911 to be held weeks and even months before going overseas. Consequently it was placed in cold storage warehouses, much of it going into the empty apple warehouses in the neighborhood of Buffalo and Rochester, New York. Here it was kept at several degrees below the freezing point till shipping space was available, and then it was forwarded to its destination without waste and without dete Received EXTENT AND USE OF COLD STORAGE 217 rioration. Thus in the wartime mobilization of our industrial resources an important place must be accorded to cold storage. Extent and Use of Cold Storage. It is very likely that the United States leads the world in the number of cold storage warehouses (Figs. 42 and 43). There are approximately 1500 of such warehouses in this country. There are three classes of cold storage warehouses, namely: (1) public cold storage warehouses in which food products are stored for hire, and the owner of the house is not interested in the foods stored; (2) private cold storage warehouses, in which the owner of the house stores food products of which he is the owner; (3) combined public and private ware FIG. 42.-Cold storage warehouse in Chicago. houses, in which the owner stores both his own commodities and also the commodities of others. The chief products now subject to cold storage are the following: apples, butter, cheese, eggs, frozen and cured meats and lards, and fish (Figs. 44 and 45). The significance of cold storage is suggested by the amount of meats in storage on June 1, 1919, namely, 1,348,000,000 pounds-a 20 days' supply for the whole country. These meats were on their normal course from producer, through the packing houses, to the consumers, in the following manner: 65 per cent: hams, bacon, etc. In process of curing (a 10 per cent: frozen pork. To be cured later in the year. 19 per cent frozen beef and lamb. In part owned by the It will be noted that the large volume of "meats in storage" represents in part unfinished goods in process of curing and in part the normal working supply to assure a steady volume. The cold storage business is growing rapidly, not only in the United States, but in many other countries. Indeed, so important FIG. 43.-Packing-house products stored in a public cold storage warehouse in Chicago. is the business to public welfare that various countries are now promoting the building of cold storage warehouses. Thus a consular agent of our government reported recently that the Swedish State was building a refrigerating plant at Hallsberg, Sweden, for the freezing of meat, fish, and other foods, having a capacity of four thousand tons. The backward state of cold storage in Russia during the World War was described by our consular general at Moscow in these words: |