Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-10-03
Canned Fruit.
From tie Baltimore Irude.

We gave in our issue of the 18th instant
press account of the remarks of DIR. Robe
in the Sanitary Council at the Blue Mountain
House on the 17th these remarks, pertain
ing To danger in food" being of much con-
sequence, aud in so far as they pertain to
canned goods and other pre- ~. 2,sd food, and
emanate from Maryland source, will prob.
ably attract much attention. 1t may be
set down Us a fact that medical men are
predisposed to believe that vegetable
acids will decomposc metals with which
they have prolonged contact, even when
the air is excluded perfectly, and no
amount of evidence has so far done more
than drive them from theory to theory to
account for contradictions. Thus some of
our most noted chemists who have asserted
the corrosion of tin and solder by the vege.
table acid, modified their opinion TO the
effect that where the air is excluded it
would require much longer time. Cans
of fruits and vegetables two or three years
old were then furnished them, and they
could find no trace OF metallic salts in the
contents nor of the corrosiOn in the metals
in contact; they merely modified their opin
ion again as to length of time required for
appreciable results; cans of naturally very
acid fruits, some OF which were known 10
be as much as eleven years old, were then
submitted to them, and the condition of the
contents and of the cans was found by the
analysis to be not different in any respect,
as to corrosion and resulting salts, from goods
but some months old They have brought
forward the theory that galvanic action
occurs where two metals are in contact,
whether they be iron and tin or tin and
lead or solder, and instance was made Of
the condition of the timed iron tombstones
in National
where scratch upon the tin surface exposing
n line of the iron Immediately resulted In cor
rosion by gavanic action 1t being pointed
out that nothing of the kind occurred where
there was no scratch, giving evidence that
the presence OF the air was necessary, aud
that the air is rigidly excluded from all
canned foods, the scientists claimed that the
natural acids in the vegetables would act in
lieu of the air. Even in this case it would
only act where the interior surface was
damaged or scratched. When attention was
called 10 the fact that more than 500 mil
lions of cans OF food are put up in this ceun
try alone every year, that it was strange we
so seldom heard of illness being caused from
this source; certainly not one illness from
100 million cans it seemed hard TO believe
this injurious process was going on !; answer
was made that probably many of the fruits
would destroy or neutralize the effect of the
acid, 50 1t all resolves back into the old
position that neither scientists or laymen
have any incontestible proof of corroson
when the air is excluded. But this very
ignorance is what makes mischief. If illness
is traced to eating sardines put up in oil,
canned goods in general are denounced, al
though the metallic cOrrosion may have been
caused by the rancid oil, grown rancid from
the presence of the air, which however, could
not be observed, as oil does not Torment and
swell rs do canned fruits and vegetables
when there is leak. The party that ate
those sardines must have known they were
rancid and not fit TO eat. Likewise, people
will buy cheap canned vegetables, find them
sour, but cook them and expect them to be
perfectly wholesome, or, il illness follows
their use, blame canned goods in general,
when in reality the faulty goods bear no
more relation to the quality OF properly
canned goods than would so much vegeta-
bic matter allowed TO get rotten in an open
hand basin. There is but one way TO lay
this embroidered ghost, and that is for the
Canned Goods Exchange 10 let in the light
on the whole matter, and get the best scien-
tiic authorities 10 prove either that the cor
rosion does proceed to an appreciable or an
injurious extent or that it does not. There
is no risk in saying that there are an 100
million cans To give evidence that il does
not, 10 one that may testify otherwise. The
subject is being So invested with suspicion
by the action OF the daily press, that only q
verdict from indsputable authority, on the
request Of the packing industry, will save
the people from imbibing a prejudice that
will be as injurious as it will be unjust and
difficult To overcome. Stamp out the incen
diarism before 1t gets Roadway.