The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-10-04 00:00:00

ADULTERATION.

In allusion to the late seisure of sloe leaves, prepared, as it
is suspected, to adulterate the China teas; the Spectator has the
following remarks:—" Adulteration is one °S the west 'exten-
sive as well as pernicious practices of English tradesmen.
Pay what price you will for au article you can scarcely get it
genuine. The system is so universal, that we really believe
seine stupid people would adulterate front mere habit, without
first balancing the gain of profit against the loss of credit. High
prices are not always a security against adulteration. Certain
it is that the practice is not limited to the venders of cheap ar-
ticles; though of course it is more extensive in high priced
commodities sold at a low rate. To get business, a retail
dealer sells cheap; he first buys damaged goods to mix with the
sound, then he adulterates with foreign substances. The dealer
in high priced articles finds his sales diminish; and to make
amends he adulterates in a less degree but without reducing his
price; which maintains his credit until the fraud is detected.
The-grocers cry out against the cheap tea-dealers; but they do
not the less adulterate. We fear that they still convert black
tea into green by means of yellow ochre; or mix sound tea with
damaged, or good with that of inferior quality. That some of
the necessaries of life are scarcely to be hadtree from adulteration,
we all know from experience. Bread and beer, for instance—
who that ever tastes genuine beer, home brewed from malt
and hops, can recognise its flavour in the drugged compounds
of the great breweries and small beer shops ? if a man were to
setup as a baker of genuine bread, or a brewer of genuine beer,
he would hardly succeed, for no one would believe him. Where
is genuine Cognac, or the spirit of juniper, or the juice of Por-
tugal grapes to be tasted? Not in brandy, gin, and port,
that is sold by even respectable wine-merchants. Accum's
famous " Death in the Pot" was a bugbear only in its
exaggeration of the pernicious effects of adulteration, not in
its statement of facts. What then is the remedy? Not the
prohibition of the article employed in adulteration; that
is impossible,—in the case of milk, for instance; but in
the case of fraud the forfeiture of the adulterated article, and
the punishment of the offender. How is the fraud to be de-
tected? it is asked. We answer thus. Let chemical examiners
be appointed iu London and the principal country towns, to
whom any person may at all times send an article to be sub-
mitted to the proper chemical tests, upon payment of a deposit
to prevent frivolous or groundless appbcations. The examiner's
certificate to be a sufficient authority for a magistrate to issue
his warrant to search and seize the adulterated article, and to
inflict a tine upon the fraudulent vendor. The complaining
party to be reimbursed, and the test fees to be paid out of the
line. The only difficulty would be tracing the offence to the
guilty party; the retailer might charge it upon the wholesale
dealer, anti rice versa. The aggrieved party would apply for
redress against the vendor; ail the onus would rest with him
to prove his innocence. This might seem difficult. But be it
remembered, that lie is generally pretty well acquainted with
the quality of the article he deals in, or at least sufficiently to
form a suspicion of adulteration; and the honest trader might
protect himself by application, in the first instance, to the test-
office, or at any rate might place himself in a condition to prove
his innocence. The existence of such facilities of detection
would soon diminish the practice, or put a stop to it altogether
in articles of food and of general consumption at least."