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INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
FEATURE
How refrigeration has changed our world
By James Cunningham of Barpro Storage
Today , we buy frozen meat and fish , not to mention vegetables and ice cream , without a second thought . Yet , the preservation of meat for later consumption has not always been that easy .
While ice houses were used to preserve animal carcases , salting in barrels or smoking was far more common , but even then , not entirely safe . It was James Harrison , a newspaper editor from Geelong , Australia , who , finding that his fingers got cold from cleaning type with ether , set investigations in motion that resulted in refrigeration as we know it today .
At the end of the nineteenth century , industrialising European cities were growing rapidly and colonies in South America , Australia , and New Zealand had surplus livestock . If it could be slaughtered , frozen , and transported safely across the equator , a huge business opportunity was there for the taking . After some mishaps , the commercial shipment of frozen carcases was proven with the voyage of the Dunedin in 1882 . This sailing ship was equipped with the earliest coal powered refrigeration system and her cargo made a profit of GBP4 700 . A banquet was held at which the cooked frozen lamb was served . The brave souls that participated were observed for several days to see if they would survive the ordeal .
The slow freezing challenge was solved by one Clarence Birdseye .
The Dunedin ’ s voyage was carefully watched by a Cape Town butcher named David de Villiers Graaf . Nicknamed ‘ Octopus ’ Graaf for his tendency to get his tentacles into all sorts of business , Graaf had a ‘ brambles ’ or slaughtering area in Cape Town . As soon as the telegraph brought news of the Dunedin ’ s success , he travelled to Europe and the US for several years sourcing equipment and knowhow with which to establish Imperial Cold Storage . While his first cold store in Dock Road burnt down in the 1920s , the offices of the second edition still exist . Indeed , ‘ Octopus ’ Graaf also built Cape Town ’ s first power station . The building still stands next to the Molteno reservoir and supplied power to his new cold store in Dock Road .
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But slowly frozen meats do not really taste so good when they are defrosted and eaten . They tend to be mushy and tasteless as large ice crystals destroy their structure . The ultimate example of this was the ‘ alleged ’ frozen woolly mammoth served up at the Explorers Club ’ s 1951 Annual Dinner at New York ’ s Roosevelt Hotel . It was advertised as being 250 000 years old , dug from the permafrost of Akutan Island in the Bering Sea . Being tasteless , one diner preserved a bite-sized chunk , which has recently been subjected to DNA testing . It seems the mammoth might have been a turtle after all .
The slow freezing challenge was solved by one Clarence Birdseye . He started out as a taxidermist , but discovered in the 1920s that fresh fish caught in the high Arctic froze quickly at -43 ° C and tasted far better than when slow frozen . I suspect the Eskimos had known this for centuries , but when western civilisation got hold of it , a whole world of TV dinners and other frozen delicacies opened up . Ironically , Birdseye ’ s first company went bankrupt from lack of interest , but his second was sold for a fortune to Goldman Sachs and eventually became part of Unilever . During my youth , its mascot , Captain Birdseye , became the most recognisable captain on the planet with the exception of Captain Cook . One doesn ’ t easily forget his famous fish fingers and the byline , “ Only the best for the Captain ’ s table ”. CLA
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Wikipedia Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
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1 . A photograph of Sir David Graaff . He travelled to Europe and the US for several years sourcing equipment and know-how with which to establish Imperial Cold Storage .
2 . A sample of the meat served in 1951 , which researchers used for DNA testing .
3 . One of James Harrison ’ s first patents on an ice-making machine after returning to London . This is a copy of the original , printed in 1856 .
4 . American inventor and businessman Clarence Birdseye in the 1940s .
5 . Photograph of the newly completed Graaff Electric Lighting Works next to the Molteno Dam in 1895 .
One consolidated voice for the refrigeration industry .
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