The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-09-27
Canned Foods.
BY John r. Hawkins, q. s., Brvi, Major
General q. =. Army.

(From the American Grocer and Dry Goods
Chronicle, Sept. H. 1SS4.G
The army posts throughout the United States
have been for a long period, now nearly 20
years, supplied with canned articles, fruits,
meats, vegetables and preserves. Many
of the posts are located where 1t
is not possible to cultivate gardens,
either on account of poverty Of the soil,
lack of rainfall, or rgor of climate, and, as q
consequence, there is hardly a military station
in the land where officers and soldiers and
their families do not habituslly use canned
foods, and, as class, army people are without
doubt the largest consumers Of canned articles
in proportion to their number of any other in
the country. While one occasionally sees an
article in a newspaper telling how some one
has been taken sick by reason of having eaten
something from can, yet, in all my army ex-
perience land for many years have been
Chief Commisssry Of military department,
and as such had charge Of supplying posts
with all their subsistence), Iha7s never known
or heard of a case of canned goods poisoning
in the army.
The canned foods used are not of any par
ticular packing either. We buy a good article,
and from any packer that will furnish proper
quality, and there is considerable competition
among packers to furnish us. Nor are our
canned goods purchased in any particular
section Of the country, but usually from the
packer or manufacturer who converts the
crude material into the canned article, and
our points of purchase extend from Maine to
Texas, and from the Atlantic to the Gulf. So
it will be seen that our army supply Is drawn
from the same sources that supply the people
at large, and that civilians and our army con-
sumo the same canned articles and under the
same circumstances. / recently inquired Of
our medical director, Lieut.. Col John r.
Summers, Surgeon, U. S. A., a careful and
skilled observer in his duties, and OF large
experience in his army profession, whether he
had ever known of a case of poisoning in the
army which might be attributed to canned
goods, or whether any Of his medical officers
at military posts had evar reported such a
case to him. To both inquiries he answered,
No; he had never known or heard Of such =
case. AS in his official capacity he has been
for many years in the constant receipt Of
formal reports concerning the health of every
command, it woald certainly follow that il
ever there was a suspicion on the part OF
medical officer that any canned food was the
cause of sickness or a disorder, there would
be every probability in favor of its being re-
ported and known to him and TO the entirs
A further important fact in this connection
is that soldiers often report sick to the surgeon
for very trihing ailments, and as a class they
are under more watchful scrutiny than any
other class OF people; and so if a case of poison
ing which could justly be attributed to can
ned goods vera ever to occur among them,
even if not fatal or serious, there would be but
a small chance that it would not come to the
knowledge of the Post Surgeon. Il would DO
almost an impossibility that he would DO
ignorant of the case and the causes.
Deductions from the foregoing may be fairly
made that the reports Of poisoning by eating
canned food are not to be believed, or are only
to DO believed when it may have occurred by
reason of the person having eaten from can
the food in which was evidently spoiled, and
so spoiled that the appearance Of the can
would surely have indicated the unsound con-
dtion OF its contents to person exercising
ordinary care. If person buys tainted meat
from the butcher and eats 1t, knowing 1t TO be
little off, and is taken sick, he must blame
himself for trihing with his health; and like
wise If he buys canned food Of suspicious ap-
pearance, he must expect to pay In health for
his carelessness or temerity. Therefore, hav-
ing no apprehension as to the method of pack
ing an article, whether in tin or in glass,
whether soldered with the aid Of an acid, or
soldered Inside or outside tbs can, there Is ev-
cry reason to consider canned articles as good
for food as any food can be. The experience
of our army ought to be conclusive on this
subject. And no person having a decent
knowledge of what is good or bad, sound or
unsonnd, could be misled into eating an inn
proper article from a can, any casters than he
could be induced into eating decayed potato,
or a tainted piece of butchers meat.