The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-09-16
FOOD FRAUDS.
TuEsuAaEFUL USE OF LIME AND ALUM
IN CHEAP BAKING POWDERS.

USE OF LIME AND ALUM
IN CHEAP BAKING POWDERS.
Many food frauds. such as chicory
coffee or watered milk, although they
are in a commercial sense, are. often
tolerated because they do not partic-
ularly affect the health of the consul
mer. but when an article like baking
powder, that enters largely into the
food of every family. and is relied up.
on for the healthful preparation of
almost every meal, is So made a to
carry highly injurious, If not rankiy
poisonous. elements into the bread to
the imminent danger Of the entire
community, it is the guty Of the press
to denounce the practice in the most
emphptic terms.
Among recent importantdiscoveries
by the food analysts is that by Prof.
Mott, the q. S. Government Chemist,
of large amounts Of lime and alum in
the cheap bakingpowders. These are,
one the most dangerous. andthe other
the most useless adulterants vet
found in the low grsde baking pow
ders. It is II startling fact that OF
over one hundred different brands of
baking powders so far analysed, COM
prising all those sold tn this vicinity.
not one of them, with the single ex-
ception of the Royal Baking Powder,
was found free from both lime and
alum. The chief service of lime is to
add weight. It is true that lime.
when subjected to heat, gives off Il
certain amount of carbonic acid gas,
but quick lime Is left-a caustic SO
powerful that it 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. A 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 DELEGATE membranes OF the
stomach, intestines and kidneys,
more particularly of infants and chill
dren, ard especially when the lime IS
taken into the system day after day.
and with almost every meal. This is
said by physicians 10 be one of the
chief causes of Indigestion. dyspepsia
and those painful diseases of the kid
ney now so prevalent. Instances OF
the most serious affections of the lat
ter organs from drinking lime water
found in some sections of tile West
are noted in every medical journal.
Adulteration with lime is quite as
much to be dreaded as with alum,
which baa heretofore received the
most emphatic condemnation from
every food analyst, physician and
chemist. for the reason that. while
alum is probably partially dissolved
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
baking powder passes, with all its In.
furious properties. into the stomach.
When 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 wickedness OF the
adnlteration will he fully apparent
Pure baking powders are one OF the
chief aids to the cook in preparing
perfect and wholesome food. While
those are tobe obtained Of well-estab-
lishcd reputation, like the Royal, OF
whose purity there has never been
and cannot be II question, 1t IS proper
to avoid all others.