Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-04-19
FOOD ADULTERATIONS
THE FEARFUL EXTENT TO WHICH
THEY ARE CARRIED.
Canned Goods a Constant Menace
to Health and Life-COpper Poi
SOning TO Obtain n Color for
Vegetables-The Baleful Effects
OF Zinc and Lead.

to Health and Life-COpper Poi
SOnimg TO Obtain Color fol
VegetabIes-The BalefuI Effect.
OF Zinc and Lead.
Ninety million dollars worth o
fraudulent substances are mixed with
good food products or sold in place
OF them every year in this country
Much Of this money comes out of the
pockets OF the farmers, whose market.
able wares are cheapened by the adul-
teration and imitation of such COM
modities. Worse yet, the health OF
the people is menaced by the poisons
which these counterfeits contain.
1t is a legitimate industry, however,
that is responsible for the worst poi
sons in foods. The adulterants are
mostly harmless, but in canned goods
are commonly found ingredients of an
exceedingly dangerous character
namely, the salts OF various metals,
such as lead, tin and zinc. When it
is considered that the annual pack OF
timed foods in the United States
amounts to eighty-five millions of cans
annually, and that the average domes-
tic consumption is ten cans for every
man, woman and child, it will be seen
that this question is not triiling one.
Americans are particularly reckless
about this sort OF thing. Even now,
Germany threatens to shut out our
dried apples from her markets because
they contain considerable percentage
of zinc. This is due to the fact that
the apples are dried on zinc plates, for
the sake OF giving them a pretty color.
It is ior like purpose that peas and
beans are artificially greened," but
that is an oflense laid to the door of
the French particularly. They use
salts Of copper.
The cook books used by our grand
mothers recommended that one or two
big copper pennies should be put into
the pot with beans or peas. to give
them a nice green color. When those
vegetables were first put up in cans
and bottles, the French prepared them
in copper kettles, having the same oh.
ject in view. But it was discovered
that the purpose could be accom-
plished by employing any sort of ves-
sci and adding a small quantity OF
salts Of copper. Against this practice
howl has been raised of late, for the
reason that copper is dangerous poi
son, accumulating in the liver and
sometimes actually making the eyes
of the sufferer green.
Accordingly, the use OF copper in
this way has been abandoned to some
extent. One substitute adopted is the
natural coloring matter of plants
called chlorophyl" obtained from
spinach. This is absolutely safe and
harmless. A process Of greening"
peas and beans by electrity, by the
way, has been tried in the United
States, an electric battery being em-
ployed to convey the copper. One
pole of the battery was attached to the
copper pot, while the other pole was
immersed in the fluid containing the
vegetables. Copper sometimes acts
very powerfully as An emetic.
Whether copper poisoning ever
causes death is disputed question,
but not so with lead, which OF all the
common metals is the most danger
Gus. 1t accumulatcs in the body for a
long time without producing any no.
ticeable symptoms, and then suddenly
comes a frightful illness. LEAD collie" !"
painters palsy" and wrist DROP"
are names popularity given to COM
plants from this cause. The solder
used in sealing cans consists mostly OF
lead, and how much OF it finds its way
into the food may be judged by the
frequency with which small Jumps Of
| it are encountered by the teeth OF the
consumer. The tin employed for coat
ing the sheet Iron Of the cans itself
contains q percentage OF the lead,
which is taken up and dissolved by the
action of the fluids.
Tin is only next to lead in respect to
poisonous properties. More or less Of
it is found by chemical analysis in the
contents OF every can. Gamers COM
monty use zinc flux in applying the
solder, though the practice is most
Objectionable. Small doses OF zinc
cause albumen to appear in the urine.
This phenomenon is the most COM
mon symptom of Bright's disease.
Some physicians are Of the opinion
that the great prevalence OF this fatal
malady may be due in part to poison
ing by canned goods. 1t may be true,
but the theory remains improved.
Many people, by the way, pay double
prices for vegetables and other foods
put up in bottless, because glass is
harmless; but they make a mistake,
for the danger is equally great, mas
inasmuch as the tops of the bottles
are ordinarily of lead or else OF rubber
containing sulphate of lead. Further.
more, bottles are commonly stood on
their heads during transportation.
The canning process was invented
in 1923 by Frenchman named Pierre
Antoine Angiibert. 1t used to be sup.
posed that the preservation of food.
thus put up was due to the exclusion
OF air, but this was an error. Many O
the species of germs which cause pu
trefaction are able to live and multipl,
without air. They are killed, how
ever, by the heat to which the can.
, are subjected after they have beer
filled and sealed hermetically. Sail
cylic and boric acids are put into bot
ties to prevent germs from multiply