Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-12-06
Helena, Montana, Thursday, December &, 1855.
Food AdulteratiOn i'm Paris.

The municipal laboratory for the analy-
sis Of the solid and liquid food sold in Paris
is issuing series Of reports which show
that nearly every article of consumption is
more or less adulterated. We have already
referred to the extensive scale in which
wine, spirits and beer are adulterated, but
it is more surprising still to find that cot-
fee, and even chocolate are rarely sold
pure. Chocolate is, as a rule, adulterated
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 chocolate brought to
the laboratory, nearly half were adulter-
ated in this fashion. 1t might be thought
that however much brown coffee might be
adulterated by the mixture of chicOry and
other substances, one was safe in buying 1T
when in the berry. But this is great
mistake, for there are several establish
ments in Paris which manufacture COM
pound of ground acorns, burnt wheat and
coffee dregs into berries, which are then
dipped in an alcoholic solution of colo
phone to give them the appearance of hest
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 rule pure, the most common form of
adulteration being oxide of iron and ocher.
There is still greater difficulty in prOcur-
ing genuine pepper, for out OF 125 specl-
mems examined "a were adulterated, po-
tato starch, pulverized olive and date
stones, cayenne, pimentO, chalk plaster,
and dust from shop floors being among the
elements discovered. Sugar and honey
seem to have escaped so far the fraudulent
devices Of dishonest traders, but syrups-
which are so largely consumed in France
and jam are very generally adulterated.
Out of 80 specimens of syrup "a had been
artifcially colored, and were not therefore
made from the fruits for which they were
named after, while nine were made from
substances deleterious to health. 1t is
even worse with jam, for out of IS speci-
mems, fourteen were made principally
from glucose, while much of the red cur
rant Jelly sold in Paris is made without
currents, the jelly being obtained by the
use of seaweed, the color with tusclne, and
the flavor made with an essence of acetic,
tartaric and other acids. Even bread, the
daily consumption of which in France is
estimated at 10000 tons day, IS very
much adulterated in Paris by dampening
the flour so as to increase it's weight, mix
ing it with bean meal, potato starch, ETC.,
or adding to it deleterious compounds OF
lead, copper, zinc, sulphate of lime and
chalk. Out of 81 specimens Of bread anal
yzed, only thirteen were made of pure
wheat -four and in examining the compo-
sition of flour the spectrum analysis has
been found of great assistance, as the pres
ence of chemical compounds can be detect
ed at once. Butter is even more generally
adulterated than bread, for out Of sixty
two samples only seven were pure. When
one remembers that the margarine manu-
factured in New York is equivalent to the
quantity of butter which could be made
from 100000 cows, and that whole ship
loads Of it are shipped from Holland to
Normandy, and sent thence to Paris as
''best Normandy butter" it will be easy
to understand why the report of the ana]y-
sis is SO untavorable.