Abstract

An alternative to the conservation of cattle hides by salting is the use of deep freezing techniques. This paper reports on the development of a new process for hide conservation in which laboratory scale work has been extended to pallet loads of hides. Factors relating to optimum storage conditions and thawing procedure have been considered and the quality and yield of leather produced from frozen hides have been compared with that from salted stock. The leather produced was comparable but softer than that from salted hides.