Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-27
FOOD authorizations.
What the Microscopic OF the Internal
, Revenue Bureau Reports.

Revenue Bureau Reports.
The annual report Of the commissioner of
ternal revenue contains, appendix, a re-
h from Prof. Edgar Richards, the micro
pist Of the bureau. upon the subject of the
brcement Of the law for the prevention of
sale of adulterated foods and drugs in the
|trict of Columbia.
me report contains a table showing the va
p food products and their chief adulter-
as follows:
TX. water. removal of cream, addition Of
on-seed or oleo oil to skim milk; butter,
Ier, salt. foreign fats, artificial coloring mat
cheese, lard. oleo oil, cotton-seed oil;
bur, bread, other meals, alum; bakers chemi-
ais. starch, alum; canned foods, metallic poi
eons; tea, exhausted tea leaves, foreign leaves,
min, lndlgo, Prussian blue, turmeric, gyp-
nm. soapstone, sand; coffee, chicory, peas,
beans. rye, corn, wheat. coloring matter; cocoa
and chocolate, sugar. starch, -four; beer, arti-
| helal glucose, malt and hop substitutes, So
dunn bicarbonate. salt antiseptics; wines la-
uors. water. spirits. artificial coloring matter.
fictitious limitations, aromatic others, burnt
)sugar, antlseptlcs; syrup, glucose; honey, glu-
kcose-syrup, cane sugar; confectionery, glucose,
starch, artificial essences, poisonous pigments,
terra alba. gypsum; olive OIL cotton-seed and
other oils: vinegar, water, sulphuric acid;
pickles. salts of copper; spices, -four, starches
| OF various kinds, turmeric.
AN inspection of this list" continues the
report, shows that the great majority of sub
tances used for adulterants are not injurious
health; the public is cheated but not
oisOned. They consist for the most part in
he wlllful and fraudulent addition Of sub
product, or are only found there in an appre-
tiately lower proportion. Another large class
Consists of simple alterations by the willful
and fraudulent subtraction Of some substance
that Is normally present in the product, and
which is not found in the abnormal product, or
only in an appreciately lower proportion. The
number of substances used that are positively
injurious to health is small, and they gener-
ally make their presence felt by the prompt
kmanner IN which dangerous symptoms mani
Vest themselves in the consumer. Such are the
larsenic, copper, lead, and other metallic
poisonous salts that are sometimes used for
artificial colors in candies, pickles, &c. The
use of antiseptics, such as salicylic acid sui
phite of soda, borax, &C., for the prevention
of fermentation in improperly-prepared foods,
Is daily becoming more frequent These de-
serve mention as being additions to foods of a
Glass of substances used to cloak carelessness
in manufacture. and producing, in many cases,
deleteriOus effects on the human economy.
The addition of such antiseptics as salicylic
acid to food products is prohibited in France
and Germany. though in the latter country
DEuch Use Is allowed when the food product is
Exported to countries where such addition is
pot prohibited.
HARMLESS ADULTERArroNs.
at seems to be apopulsr impression that any
Substance used as an adulterant of, or as a sub
stitute for, food product is to be avoided as it.
self being injurious to health. Such impression
hs erroneous in nearly every case. Oleomarga-
flne. for instance, is a mixture of milk. cream,
butter. suet fat lard, cotton-seed oil in the
lower grades, and salt, with a very small pro-
portion of the coloring matter, annatto, used
by farmers to produce the rich golden tint
The greatest cleanliness is observed through
out its manufacture, and the finished product
a well as all its ingredients, are perfectly pure
and wholesome articles of food. Food adulter-
alton is carried on by manufacturers in the in
terest of pecuniary profit and gain, and they
take pains to keep themselves well posted on
the subject of cheap and harmless substitutes
This is we'll illustrated in the most recent form
OF milk adulteration. The whole milk is placed
IN centrifugal machines and nearly all the
cream. fat. removed. The machines are then
stopped. another drum called the emulsifier
put IN. or sometimes the same machine is used
the machines restarted, and a charge of cotton
seed oil or melted 'oleo-oir is then, together
with the warm skim milk, run in sufficiently to
pring up the Tat contents and specific gravity
10 those of ordinary milk.
1T would be an impossible, not to say ridic-
ulOus attempt, to convince any court or iury
that ordinary potable water was either exter-
nally or internally injurious to health, yet it is
probably the most common adulterant used
The watering of milk is everywhere recognized
a. not only a fraud but also q very grave mis-
demeanOr, if not actually a crime This ia the
food on which the whole population under one
year old Is fed; and where the mother cannot
supply the proper nourishment for the child
she must depend for its bring ing up on cows
or other milk. 1t is self-evident that a pint of
Watered milk does not contain the same amount
OF nourlshment as the same volume of whole
milk. so that child or invalid might be actu-
ally starved to death il compelled to rely on
the former for Its sole nourishment
Many drugs are used both in the arts and in
medicine, different degrees of purity being de-
manded Tor these different uses. We have such
substances as the mineral acids and alkalies.
salts of arsenic. antimony, copper lead mer-
curry. &c; alkaloids. as aconite cocaine NOR
phlne. strychnine, &c; some organic acids and
salts' that are found on the markets chemically
pure. but which are universally conceded to be
very injurious to health, without any adultera-
lions whatever. While most medicines are
drugs, some are not drugs, and again many
drugs are not medicines. So that the definition
OF medicine should be clearly stated in any
law on the subject"
Prot. Richards states that he has examined
the full returns of the number of samples ex
ahmed by the public analysts of England in
the year lSS6 with the following discoveries.
There were 1919 samples of milk examined Of
which l.2I5 or 13 per cent were found to be
adu!tsrated; 30 of 99l samples of bread were
found to contain adulterants; out of 39S
samples Of Hour, = per cent; 4o1 of 2922
l.0J
samples Of coffee, Is per cent; 1O4 of 81 samp-
les Of mustard. 1877 per cent; / of IA samples
OF confectionery; of "A of wines; IL of 6O2 of
beers, Is per cent; 40 Of 2.2g7 samples of
spirits us per cent; AZ of 435 of drugs, 10 8
per cent, and $50 of STA other articles. The
total samples examined were % 596 of which
2Sl3 or ll-9 per cent were found to be adulter-
ated-
THE LAW SHOULD BE so woRDED,"
remarks the microscopic, 'and the penalties
imposed for violations so severe that it will
deter persons from engaging in the practice of
aduiteration of food products. In other words.
the risks incurred will not pay for any profit
That might result from Noncompliance with
the law Possession or ownership of an adul-
terated article OF food should be considered
sufficient ground for conviction in a civil action
without knowledge in the possession of the
dealer that the same was adulterated being de-
manded from the prosecution. MANY food
products spoil in transportation, and penalties
ranging from nominal fine to imprisonment
for a term of years should be provided. il. ON
account or dealing in and consumption OF arti.
eles so spoiled, or in those injurious TO health
death, or even a severe sickness, is caused by
the same.
The inspection Of meat fish, vegetables. fruit.
and especially milk. should be done daily in any
large city, and properly belongs to the health
department of such city.
Provision should be made for the character
OF the packing and quality of the vessel, either
metal or glass. in which food products ara ,pt