The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-03-06

To the Editor:
The Roya, Baking Powder Company takes
great pleasures in laying before your read
ers the following abstract of the official
baking powder report of Food Commissioner
Hurst of Ohio, copied from the Cincinnati,
o., Enquirer, where it originally appeared,
over the exact contents of which some of the
baking powder manufacturers are quarrel
ing.
This Company had nothing to do with the
examination of the baking powders in ques-
tion, nor with the preparation of the report.
We believe the investigation to have been
faithfully and impartially made That the
facts brought out were so emphatieally in
favor Of the Royal baking Powder was a
matter of course, and surprised no one. All
official and other impartial investigations
show the Royal to be the purest, strongest
and wholesomest baking powder made. The
fact that Commissioner Hurst after resign
ing, in the interest Of one of the baking pow
ders which had been shown to be impure by
his own report tries to figure out something
else, makes no exception TO the rule, for his
effort Is only made after he became Stree
from the restraints Of official impartiaHty'!
That is, were he still confined by his oath to
an Officially impartial or true statement of
facts. he could not have written his letter in
favor of the baking powder which he before
showed to be 1880 per cent. impure, and
which he placed fourth in his official CLASH
fication. This admission places the ex-Com-
missioner and his baking powder protege in
a most unenyiable position, fol- it conyicts
them of using advertising matter admittedly
at variance with the official facts; but it en-
tirely relieves the public and ourselves from
further interest in any statements the Com
missioner may make outside of his official
report, or in advertisements based upon
them intended to boom the impure baking
powders.
The original official report is made special
ly OF Importance, however. We have care
fully compared the following with the orr
ginal official report on file at Columbus
OHIO. The percentages showing impurity
and strength are correctly transcribed. The
statements of fact and opinian quoted are
condensed, but convey the meaning of the
original accurately, while the deductions
drawn by the editor from the facts and
opinions are remarkably iair and impartial:
From the Cincinnati, o., Enquirer.
The Ohio State Dairy and Food Commits
Sloner, Gen. 5 Ii. Hurst, has made public
Circular No. g the results Of the Commits
slon's investigation of baking powder This
Commission was formed by tile Legislature.
with instructions to make an examination of
the food supply of the State, and to give
report OF such examination to the public.
The examination of the baking powders was
made by Professor II. A. Weber, State
hAr % fl.4ft. "a i.
of daily use in the food of almost every one,
is of particular interest.
The rather startling fact is brought ont by
the report, that of the thirty different brands
OF baking powder analysed, composing about
all those sold in the State, twenty of them
are made from alum, a substance declared by
the highest medical authorities to be injuri-
Gus to health when used in food.
The Commissioner Classics the baking
powders into three general divisions, accord
ing to their value:
1st Cream of Tartar Baking Powders;
I'd. Phosphate Baking Powders;
3D. Alum Baking Powders;
The object of baking powders is, when
mixed in the -four and subjected to moisture,
to. generate a leaNening gas in the dough,
which will raise the bread and cause it to be
porous and light. The Commissioner ex-
plains that the best baking powder is that
which, the ingredients being healthful, gives
off the largest amount of leavening gas, and
leaves the smallest amount of residuum in
the bread. A small amount of carbonate of
ammonia, which is considered healthful, is
used in some of the cream of tartar powders
to give them higher strength. The Com
mission say that alum is undoubtedly hurt
full salt, and that the resultant salts from its
combination with soda as formed in the
bread can scarcely be less hurtful. The re-
| port ranks the powders and shows the
amount in each of inert resultants, which in
! using it would appear as residuum in the
) bread, as follows: