The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-09-16
FOOD FRAUDS.
TIE SHAMEFUL USE OF LIME AND ALUM IN
CHEAP BAKING POWDERS.

fiany food frauds, such as chicory
fee OF watered milk, although they are
:. sYisLie ia a commercial sense, are
oIrsu tolerated because they do not
par i~ularly aifert the health of the con-
sumer; but WHEEL an article like baking
powder, that enters largely into the food
Of every family, and is relied upon for
the heaithful preparation of almost every
meal. Is so made as to carry highly IN
iurious, Ii not rankly poisonous, ele-
ments into the bread to the imminent
danger Of the entire community, it is the
duty of the press to denounca the prao-
tice IL the most emphatic terms.
Among recent important discoveries
by tue food analysis is that by Prof.
Mott, the L. S Government Chemist, OF
large amounfs of lime and alum in the
cheap baking powders. These are, one
the n3ost dangerous, and the other the
most useless adulterants yet found III the
low grade, inferior baking powders. Ii
is a startling fact that of over one hun
dred different brands of baking powders
SO tar arllyzed, comprising all those sold
i'll tnls vicinity, not one of them with the
single exception of the Royal Baking
Powder, was found free from both lime
and alum. The chief service of lime is
to add weight. 1t is true that lime,
when subjected to heat, gives off a Ger
tain amount of carbouic acid gas, bnt IA
quick lime Is left-a caustic SO powerful
that 1t is used by tanners to eat the hair
from hides OF animals, and in dissecting
rooms to more quickly rot the flesh from
the bones of dead subjects. 4 small
quantity Of dry lime upon the tongue
or in the eye, produces painful effects;
how much more serious must these
effects be on the delicate membranes of
the stomach, intestines aud kidneys,
more particularly of infants and children,
and especially when the lime is taken
into the system day after day, and with
almost every meal. This is said by
physicians to be one of the chief causes
of Indigestion, dyspepsia, and those pain
ful diseases of the kidneys now SO pre-
yaleut. Instances of the most serious
affections of the latter organs from drink
ing lime water in some sections of the
West are Goted ill every medical journal.
AdultcratiOu with lime is quite as
mnch 10 be dreaded as with alum, which
has heretofore received the most emphatic
condemnation from every food analyst,
physician and chemist, for the rcss,n
that while alum is probably partially dis
solved and passed off in gas by the heat
Of baking, it is impossible to destroy or
change the nature of the lime in any
degree, so that the entire amount in the
baking powder passes, with all its ir'jur
Ious properties, into the stomach. Whom
we state that the chemists have found
twelve per cent or one eighth of the
entire weight of some samples Of baking
powder analysed, to be lime, the wicked
ness of the adulteration will be fully
apparent.
Pure baking powders are one of the
chief aids to the cook in preparing per
feet and wholesome food. While those
are to be obtained of well established
reputation, like the Royal, OF whose pur
ity there has never been and cannot be a
question, it is proper to avoid ali others