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1910)
270
The firm very freely gave the Medical Officer of Health full particulars
as to the methods they adopt at their Vancouver cannery in preparing the
salmon for sale, and as they are the most modern they are now given. They
are as follows : —
(1) The salmon are caught in nets, seins and traps and are brought to
the canneries in boats or steamers.
(2) They are raised from these vessels by elevators to the fish dock.
(3) They are given a thorough external washing.
(4) They are butchered and cleansed by machinery.
(5) They are critically examined and passed into the brine tanks for a
final cleansing.
(6) They are passed into the dripping tank, where all the water is drained
off from them.
(7) The fish are conveyed by endless chain carriers to the cutting
machines, where the salmon is divided into pieces the length of a
can by rapidly revolving circular knives.
(8) In the case of the flat and oval 1 lb. and ½ lb. cans, the salmon is
packed by hand, as no practical machines for dealing with these
cans can be devised, but over 80 per cent. of all salmon is packed by
machinery in the tall cans, as a machine does not get tired and
neglectful. These tall cans are fed with salmon from large
hoppers, which are attached to the cutting machines. The salmon
having been first cut into cylindrical pieces, the pressure of a piston
presses it into the cans.
(9) To each can is added, before being filled with fish, one-quarter of an
ounce of table salt.
(10) From the filling machines the cans are transferred to tables where
they are thoroughly inspected, weighed, and any deficiency supplied.
(11) Endless belts convey the cans to cleansing machines, where the
exterior is subjected to a jet of hot air under high pressure and then
polished with rapidly rotating wire brushes.