Part 105

=535. Alcohol in Ensilage.=—The fermentation which takes place in the silo is not wholly of an alcoholic nature, as the development of lactic acid, noted above, clearly indicates. The alcohol which is formed may escape and but small quantities can be detected in the ripened product. So small is this quantity of alcohol that it appears to be useless to try to secure a quantitive estimation of it. Qualitively, it may be detected by collecting it in a distillate, which is neutralized or made slightly alkaline with soda or potash lye and redistilled. The greater part of the alcohol will be found in the first few cubic centimeters, which are made alkaline with potash lye and as much iodin added as can be without giving a red tint to the solution. Any alcohol which is present will soon separate as iodoform.

=536. Comparative Values of Fodder and Ensilage.=—In judging of the comparative values of green and dry fodders for feeding purposes, it is necessary to secure representative samples in the green, quickly dried and ensilaged condition. It is quite certain that the greater part of the sugar contained in green fodders is lost both by natural curing and by placing in a silo. When well cured by the usual processes there is but little loss of nitrogenous matters, but in the silo this loss is of considerable magnitude, amounting in some instances to as much as thirty per cent.

The ideal way of preparing green fodders in order to preserve the maximum food value efficiently, is to shred them and dry rapidly by artificial heat, or in the sunlight, until they are in a condition which insures freedom from fermentation. In this condition, when placed in bales, under heavy pressure, the food constituents are preserved in the highest available form. The immense sugar content of the stalks of maize and sorghum could be preserved in this way almost indefinitely.

FLESH PRODUCTS.

=537. Names Of Meats.=—The parts of the animal from which the meats are taken have received distinctive names, which serve to designate the parts of the carcass offered for sale. These names are not invariable and naturally are quite different in many markets. In this country there is some degree of uniformity among butchers in naming the meats from different parts. The names in scientific use for the parts of mutton, beef and pork are found in the accompanying illustrations.

=538. Sampling.=—When possible the whole animal should constitute the sample. The relative weights of blood, intestinal organs, hide, hoofs, horns, bones and edible flesh are determined as accurately as possible. The general method of preparing samples of animal products is given in paragraph =5=.

The method of sampling employed by Atwater and Woods is essentially that just noted. The sample, as received at the laboratory, is weighed, the flesh (edible portion) is then separated from the refuse (skin, bones etc.) and both portions weighed. There is always a slight loss in the separation, evidently due to evaporation and to small fragments of the tissues that adhere to the hands and to the implements used in preparing the sample. The perfect separation of the flesh from the other tissues is difficult, but the loss resulting from this is small. In sampling the material for analysis, it is finely chopped, either in a tray or in a sausage cutter, and in each case is well mixed.

=539. Methods of Analysis.=—The general methods for the analyses of food products are applicable to meats and animal products in general. In the separation of the nitrogenous constituents the methods described in paragraphs =411-414= are followed. It is not safe to estimate as proteids the total nitrogen multiplied by 6.25, since the flesh bases have much higher percentages of nitrogen than are found in proteid matters. As indicated in paragraph =280= the complete extraction of dried meats by ether is difficult of accomplishment. After a few hours it may be assumed that the total extract will represent the fat, although additional soluble matters are obtained by continuing the process. The heat producing power may be calculated from the analytical data secured. The methods which have been described in the preceding pages will be found sufficient for guidance in the examination of animal products, and the analyst will find them, when modified to suit particular cases, adapted to the isolation and estimation of proximate food principles.

The methods of analyses followed by Atwater and Woods are given below:

Water and Water-Free Substance.—The drying is done in ordinary water ovens at a temperature of nominally 100°, but actually at 96° and 98°. For each analysis of animal tissues (flesh) one or more samples of from fifty to one hundred grams of the freshly chopped substance are weighed on a small plate, heated for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, cooled, allowed to stand in the open air for about twenty-four hours, weighed, ground, sifted through a sieve with circular holes one-half millimeter in diameter, bottled and set aside for analysis. In case of fat samples which cannot be worked through so fine a sieve, either a coarser sieve is used or the substance crushed as finely as practicable and bottled without sifting.

For the complete desiccation, about two grams of material are dried for three hours. It is extremely difficult to get an absolutely constant weight, though it is found that this is in most cases approximately attained in four hours.

Nitrogen, Protein, Albuminoids etc.—The nitrogen is determined in the partly dried substance by the method of Kjeldahl. The protein is calculated by multiplying the percentage of nitrogen by 6.25. The nitrogenous matters in meats and fish, i. e., in the materials which have practically no carbohydrates, are also estimated by subtracting the sum of ether extract and ash from the water-free substance, or the sum of water, ether extract and ash from the fresh substance, the remainder being taken as proteids, albuminoids etc., by difference. While this is not an absolutely correct measure of the total nitrogenous matter, it is doubtless more nearly so than the product of the nitrogen multiplied by 6.25.

Fat (Ether Extract).—The fat is extracted with ether in the usual manner. The point at which the extraction is complete is not always easy to determine. For the most part, the extraction is continued for such time as experience indicates to be sufficient, and then the flask is replaced by another and the extraction repeated until the new flask shows no increase in weight.

According to experience, the fat of many animal tissues is much more difficult to extract than that of most vegetable substances. In general, the greater the percentage of fat in a substance the more difficult is the removal of the last traces. Dried flesh is frequently so hard that the fineness of the material to be extracted seems to be a very important matter.

Ash.—Ash is determined by the method recommended by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists.

Food Value—Potential Energy.—The food materials are not necessarily burned in the calorimeter, but the fuel value of a pound of each of the foods, as given in the tables, is obtained by multiplying the number of hundredths of a pound of protein and of carbohydrates by 18.6 and the number of hundredths of a pound of fat by 42.2, and taking the sum of these three products as the number of calories of potential energy in the materials.

More reliable results are obtained by using the factors obtained by Stohmann; viz., 5731 calories for proteids, 9500 calories for common glycerids, 9231 calories for butter fat, 3746 calories for pentose sugars, 3749 calories for dextrose and levulose and 3953 calories for sucrose and milk sugar.

=540. Further Examination of Nitrogenous Bodies.=—It is evident that both of the methods proposed above for the examination of the nitrogenous constituents of meats are unreliable. If the total nitrogen be determined and multiplied by 6.25 the product does not by any means represent the true quantity of nitrogenous matter since the flesh bases contain in some instances more than twenty-five per cent of nitrogen.

If, on the other hand, the water, ash and fat in a meat sample be determined and the sum of their per cents be subtracted from 100, the difference represents the nitrogenous bodies plus all undetermined matters and errors of analysis. The assumption that meats are free of carbohydrates is not tenable since glycogen is constantly found therein and in horse flesh in comparatively large amounts. In a thoroughly scientific analysis of meats, the nitrogenous bodies should be separated and determined by groups, according to the principles developed in paragraphs =411-414=. This process requires a great amount of analytical work and in general it will be sufficient to make a cold water extract to secure the flesh bases and a hot water extract to secure the gelatin. The nitrogen is then determined in each of these portions separately. The nitrogen in the cold water extract is multiplied by four, in the hot water extract by six and in the residue by 6.25. The sum of these products represents approximately the total nitrogenous matter in the sample.

Aqueous extracts containing nitrogen are easily prepared for moist combustion by placing them in the digestion flasks, connecting the latter with the vacuum service and evaporating the contents of the flask nearly to dryness. The sulfuric acid is then added and the nitrogen converted into ammonia and determined in the usual manner.

=541. Fractional Analysis of Meats.=—A better idea of the composition of a meat is obtained by separating its constituents into several groups by the action of different solvents. This method has been elaborated by Knorr.

The separation of the meats in edible portion and waste and the determination of moisture and fat are conducted as already described. The residue from the fat extraction is exhausted with alcohol, and in the extract are found the nitrogenous bases kreatin, kreatinin, sarkin and xanthin, and urea, lactic, butyric, acetic and formic acids, glycogen and inosit. In the residue from the alcohol extraction, the proteid nitrogen is determined in a separate sample.

A separate portion of the sample is ground to a fine paste and repeatedly rubbed up with cold water, which is poured through a tared filter. When the extraction is complete, the filter and its contents are dried and the dry residue determined. This residue represents the nitrogenous constituents of the muscle fibers and their sheaths together with any other bodies insoluble in cold water. The filtrate from the cold water extraction is heated to boiling to precipitate the albuminous matters which are collected, dried and weighed, or the nitrogen therein determined and the albuminous matters calculated by multiplying by the usual factor. The filtrate from the coagulated albuminous bodies is evaporated to dryness and weighed. It consists essentially of the same materials as the alcoholic extract mentioned above. The ash and nitrogen in the aqueous extract are also determined.

The mean content of the edible parts of common meats, expressed as per cents in groups as mentioned, follow:

Per cent. Water 73.11 Ash 1.18 Total soluble matter 26.89 Phosphoric acid 0.49

Per cent. { Proteids insoluble in cold water 13.76 { Of which coagulable by heat 2.24 Cold water extract 3.56 { Ash in water extract 1.09 { Of which phosphoric acid 0.38

Per cent. Fat 4.93 Alcohol extract 3.03 Proteids in residue from alcohol 17.88 Total nitrogen in sample 3.37

=542. Estimation of Starch in Sausages.=—Starchy substances are sometimes added to sausages for the purpose of increasing their weight. The presence of starch in a sausage is easily detected by iodin. The quantity may be determined by the following process: