Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-04-28
Quality Of Our Food Products.

l
That various European countries have
the importation OF American
pork on account Of the circulation of
false reports now seems certain. That
the condition Of our meat-producing
animals in regard to health has been
grossly misrepresented is also sure.
The English Agriculture Commissioners
who were here last season made q fiat
tering report of the condition of our /
farm stock. and especially noticed the |
very excellent condition of our hogs. |
The country since its first settlement |
has been almost entirely free from con-
taglous diseases among animals raised |
Tor food The large amount OF exercise
allowed stock here, the purity of the |
water, and the excellence of the grass
and grain are all favorable to the health
OF domesticated animals.
Still it must be confessed that many
OF the articles sold for food in this coun-
try or sent abroad are not what they
should be. As a rule. there is no inspec-
ton OF articles intended for food with a
view of ascertaining their condition or
quality. In many of the States there
are no statutes against authorizations of
any kind. In others the laws on this
Giles of common use on tables are rarely,
if ever, found pure, or in state ap-
preaching purity. Almost everything
designed for condiments is adulterated
to shameful extent Since it has be-
come common to grind spices, peppers,
mustard, and other articles employed as
relishes, it is almost impossible to find
any of them pure. Dealers do not strive
to acquire a reputation for the quality
of the articles they sell, but for cheap
ness.
Cheap and abundant as are fruits in
this country, every kind of fraud is prac-
ticed in disposipg of them. The pack
ages in which they are placed are small
er than the standard they are presumed
to represent. The fruit placed in them,
whether apples, pears, peaches, ounces
or plums, are as rule sorted, the larger
and fair specimens being placed where
they can be seen and the smaller and in
ferior specimens put where they will be
out of sight. Not unfrequently the ends
of barrel will be filled with choice
specimens of a superior variety and the
middle packed with very poor speci-
mems of very inferior kind. Greater
frauds are practiced in the trade in
peaches than in any other branch of the
fruit business. Everything about it is
dishonest, from the size of the package
to the contents of it.
The trade in canned fruits is fearfully
demoralized. In many cases berries
and other small fruits are sold to can
ners after they are in condition that
prevents their being bought by ordinary
customers. With rare exceptions glu-
cose is employed in the place of sugar
to aid in their preservation. Few of the
commercial fruit jellies are true to name.
The bulk of them is composed of some
sort of glue, colored with anime and
favored with a chemical compound.
As to fruit extracts chiefly employed for
flavoring pies, buildings, cakes, sauces,
ice-cream, or so-called sssoda-water, )"
they are the products OF the manufacture
ing chemist. and the less that is known
about their ingredients and the methods
of compromising them the better will they
be relished.
1t is difficult to obtain pure article of
commercial vinegar in the market, cheap
as are the substances of which it is
made. If we turn to sweets the case is
still worse. It is comparatively easy to
obtain pure sugar by buying that which
is purified and crystalized. 1t is, how
ever, quite difficult in most parts of the
country to obtain syrup and molasses
made from tropical sugar-cane. Glucose
in some form, alone or combined with a
material that renders it more sweet and
imparts color, constitutes what is sold
as syrup Most of what is sold as honey
in the market is simply doctored glucose.
Our confectionery is composed of glu-
cose, gum, and white clay, favored with
chemical preparations and colored with
various sorts of mineral pigments.
Coffee is the common table beverage
of our people, and during many years it
has been largely sold in a condition
ready for the pot. That it is largely
adulterated with very cheap materials
must be evident to every consumer from
the circumstance that what passes for
marched and ground coffee is sold for a
smaller price than the most inferior ar
ticle of the green berry. A few years
ago the article most commonly en-
ployed to adulterate ground coffee was
chiccory. But chiccory itself was soon
adulterated, and it was not long before
beets, carrots, turnips and tan-bark con-
stituted The great bulk of what was sold
under the name Of chiccory.- At present
peas, barley, date-seeds and cocoanut-
shells constitute q large proportion OF
the substance SOlO aS SIounu Con00. ~
NAV be remarked that none OF these ar
ticles are positively injurious, but they
are nearly destitute of value.
Milk which is sold in cities and large
towns Is first debased and then adulter-
ated. During several years just past
butter and cheese have been made from
the same batch of milk. The fat OF cat
tie and hogs is combined with the curd
made from skinned milk, the whole
colored with the extract of annotto.
pressed into shape, and sold as full
cream cheese. Cream is no longer re-
ouired for making butter. The market
is largely supplied with butter manu-,
featured from suet and lard. Pulverized
soapstone is employed to give it weight,
and various pigments employed to pro-
duce . desirable color. No articles EN-
ployed as food are debased and adui1er.