Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-22


w N@A time. The title page
~ !: !: :: :
Sf OF the book will con-
| M>A& tain the announce
| MN\ >NMN ment that the publ
| I'M N<\ cation was by order
| NST%1N Of Congress-" and the
| HBSgTV introduction. by Prof.
Wiley. the department chemist, contains a
disclaimer of all authority for the quota
| tons made in the compilation. These pre-
| cautions are taken because the bulletin is
made up largely of letters from druggists
and other merchants all over the country
| containing their views of adulteration; and
| Mr.. Wiley in his Introduction says: 1T is
| hardly necessary to call attention here to
the fact that the public ideas OF adutera-
ton Of food are in many cases very much
exaggerated, and this. perhaps. is the cause
| Of the many extravagant assertions which
| are made" 1t is safe to conclude from this
| disclaimer that Mr.. Wiley does not indorse
| the statement OF the special agent who
| prepared the report that there Is adultera-
| ton Of a. least Is per cent of the food
| sold In the United States That the per-
| centage is large. however, is proved by in
vestigations which Mr.. Wiley has made
| and which have been published in the ia
| nous Bulletin No. 13'' of the deps rtment,
| which seems as though IL would never be
| completed. Up to the present time eight
parts of Bulletin u have been published,
| and they include facts about the adultera-
ton Of dairy products. spices and condi-
| ments, malt liquors, wines and elders, lard.
| baking powders, sugar. CONNECTIONS. honey
and beeswax, tea, coffee and cocoa and
canned vegetables. The latest compilation
Is intended to cover. after a fashion, the
| entire field OF food products. And here are
| some OF the things which II shows the
| American people are taking into their
stomachs unconsciously with their daily
bread:
Black pepper has been found to be
| adulterated with buckwheat hour and hulls
| cracker crumbs. cornmeal. wheat -four.
| charcoal. sand. bran. linseed meal cocoanut
| shells, mustard seed hulls. sawdust. olive
| bread. As IL this list was not long enough.
| the special agent says that there is hardly
! anything of a refuse character that is mol
| used by manufacturers to adulterate pep
per-" The best restaurants now use pepper
grinders on their own tables. and their
patrons grind their own pepper into powder
| But even this is not an absolute protection,
for the pepper may not be pepper at all. II
| may be a compound of starch and other
| ingredients made in imitation of pepper.
The food aduiterators make artificial eggs
| which pass for the real article; and as for
artificial coffee beans, they are made in
| this country and imported as We'll
| Coffee and Beer.
| Artificial coffee is one of the most COM
mon OF adulterated foods. Sometimes II is
sold already ground. Sometimes IL is sent
| out In pellets. to be ground by the retailer.
Sometimes 1t goes to the consumer In the
/ form of an imitation coffee bean, which can
| be distinguished from the real article only
| by expert chemical examination. The Amer
| lean people are now drinking in their homes
| decoctions OF wheat flour: coffee, bran and
molasses; bran and molasses; wheat flour,
| coffee and chicory: wheat -four, bran and
/ rye; chicory. peas. beans, barley. wheat,
oats and buckwheat: wheat flour and saw
dust; peas and molasses; pea hulls and
| bran. and wheat or rye -four and corn.
| Most of these adulterants are offered to
| retailers to adulterate their ground coffee,
but some are sold outright as roast cof-
| fee," made in imitation of coffee beans; and
| even the careful housewife who roasts her
own coffee is not protected entirely. for
| there is an imitation of the green coffee
| bean now made from wheat flour and
| genuine coffee.
Here is what is put into some American
beer: Burnt sugar, licorice treacle quaSsia,
coriander and caraway seed, Cayenne pep
| per, soda, salicylic acid, salt, carbonic gas
| (artificially injected), grains other than
barley, glycerin. glucose, water tby retail
ers), tobacco and seeds of cocolus indicus.
The most important adulteration of beer
is with personalities, the chief ot which is
salicylic acid.
| German government, while forbidding the
| use of this acid In domestic beer, permits IL
| to be used In beer intended for export. So
we are not safe even in drinking the costly
! lively discussion of the effects of salicylic
| acid on the system, inspired by a govern
mental decree forbidding the use of The
acid In French beer. A consulting commit
| tee OF hygiene reported that its continued
use was dangerous to health; but there are
| chemists who claim to have proved by ex-
pertinent that IL Is not dangerous. The
ease with which chemical experts indorse-
ments are obtained for almost all food
products. though, will discre6it them at
least little in the public mind. Salicylic
acid Is much used as an aduiterant for
canned vegetables. and IL has been greatly
condemned In connection with them Borax
too. which is found in some malt LIQUORS
and In many wines. is used In preserving
vegetables.
An inspection Of the breweries Of Brook
lyn, made some years ago, revealed the use
of sodium bicarbonate FUSED to correct un-
due acidity), .artaric acid. cream Of tartar,
isingiass or gelatine, glucose, grape sugar.
juniper berries and salicylic acid.
Impure Wines.
The adulteration of foreign wines for the
American market consists chiefly in the
addition Of water and sugar. In some cases
marble dust Is introduced; In others gyp-
sum or sulphate of lime. The addition of
lead oxide for the preservation of the wine
was common some Years ago and deaths
were traced to 1t; but this form of aduI-
teration Is no longer practiced. The sub
stitution of other fermented Juices 6cider
for example) for wine is difficult of detec-
ton and Is very common. As to the use of
coloring matter, that is almost universal.
and where the color is produced by yegeta.
BILE dyes-.ogwood. cochineai, eIderberrIes
whortleberries, red cabbage. beet root. mall
low, indigo. etc.-they are almost impossi-
bic to detect. Aniline dyes are detected
easily by chemical analysis. Imitation
wines are made by various chemical COM
binations. and the product is often SO like
the genuine that II deceves experts
AS TO ales, II Is n fact that American
dealers freQently adulterate the imported
with the domestic article-a fraud which
may be really benefit in disguise TO the
consumer, but which is none the less a
fraud.
Pure country cider is frequently adulter-
ated, chiefly by the addition Of water ana
coloring matter. but there is a marketahle
Quality OF this article made from the fol-
lowing ingredients: To each gallon of wa
ter add one-haif pound of granulated sugar.
acidulate with tartaric acid and flavor with
oil OF apple previously put in alcohol; color
with caramels and to twenty gallons of
this mixture add two gallons of genuine
country cider.
Alcoholic liquors are adulterated with
fusil oil. tannin. logwood. water ccloriny
matter and burnt sugar. Gin is adulter-
ated with potatoes and barley. alum, spir-
its of turpentine. sugar and water Abb
tnsh lie a,,l.a 80 --..l