Studies on Salt Fish: II. The Effect of Salt Concentration on Preservation

The preserving action of salt, as determined chemically and bacteriologically, increases with increasing salt concentration (8 to 32%) and decreasing temperature (21 to 10 °C). It shows in a lengthening of the period of lag before rapid increase in volatile bases. The increase begins when the bacterial count reaches 10–20 million per ml. on 10 per cent salt agar, and its rate is not influenced by salt concentration. The hypothesis is advanced that the trimethylamine oxide present in the fish is reduced very rapidly to trimethylamine when the reduction potential reaches a definite point.