The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-12-28
The AduIteration Of Food.

Although the law in France is eX-
ceedingly strict about the adulteration
of food, nevertheless we find that the
municipal laboratory for the analysis
of the solid and liquid food sold in
Paris, is issuing a series of reports
which show that nearly every article
of consumption is more or less adul-
terated. The extensive scale upon
which wine. spirits and beer are adul-
terated, is already well known, but it
is more surprising still to find that
coffee and even chocolate are rarely
sold pure. Chocolate is, as a rule,
adIIlterated by the substitution of
bean meal, powdered date stones
for the rich matter which the
natural cocoa contains, and out
of seventy-Seven specimens of cho-
colate brought to the laboratory
nearly half were adulterated in this
fashion. 1t might be thought that
however much ground coffee might be
adulterated by the admixture of chic
DRY and other substances, one was safe
in buying it when in the berry; but
this is a great mistake, for there are
several establishments in Paris which
manufacture compound of ground
acorns, burnt wheat and coffee dregs
into berries, which are then dipped in
an alcoholic solution of colophone to
give the appearance of "beSt Mocha"
Out of tWenty-eight specimens of
whole coffee, twelve were found
to be adulterated, so that it is
not in the east only that one
drinks "bad coffee" Even the
chicory used to adulterate coffee
is not, as a rule, pure, the most COM
mon form of adulteration being
oxide of iron and ochre. There is still
greater difficulty in procuring gen.
ulne pepper, for out of 125 specimens
examined eighty-four were adulter-
ated, potato starch, pulveriZed olive
and date stones, cayenne, piemento,
chalk, plaster and dust from shop
floors being among the elements dis
covered. Sugar and honey seems to
have escaped so far the fraudulent de-
vices of dishonest traders, but syrups
which are so largely consumed in
France-and jam are very generally
adulterated. Out of thirty-eight
specimens of syrup twenty-four had
been artificially colored, and were not,
therefore, made from the fruits which
they were named after, while
nine were composed of sub
stances deleterious to health. 1t
IS even worse with jam, for out of
eighteen specimens fourteen were
made principally from glucose, while
much of the red currant jelly sold in
Paris is made without currants; the
jelly being obtained by the use of sea-
weed, the color with fuchsine, and
the flavor with an essence made from
acetic, tartaric and other acids. Even
bread, the daily consumption of which
in France is estimated at sixteen
thousand tons day, is very much
adulterated in Paris by damping the
flour so as to increase its weight, mix
ing it with bean meal, potato starch,
ETC.. or adding to it deleterious COM
pounds of lead, copper, zinc, sulphate
of lime and chalk. Out of thirty-one
specimens of bread analysed only
thirteen were made of pure wheat
flour, and in examining the compost
ton of flour the spectrum analysis has
been found of great assistance. as the
presence of chemical components can
be detected at once. Butter is even
more generally adulterated than bread,
for out of siXty-twO samples only
eleven were pure. When one remem.-
bers that the margarine manufactured
in New York is equivalent to the
quantity of butter which could lie
made from the milk of 100000 cows,
and that whole shiplOads of it are ex-
ported from Holland and Normandy,
and sent thence to Paris as best Nor
mandy butter" it will be easy to un-
derstand why the report of the anal
ysis is so unfavorable.