The record-union., 1896-05-21
FRAUD IN FOOD.

It has been believed that a profitable
business in the manufacture of fruit
and berry jellies could be prosecuted in
California as a supplement to horti-
culture. Assuredly, it was expected
that we could supply the home demand
and chat in such supply we would not
be downed by Eastern competition But
hen our home manufacturers got into
the market with pure fruit and berry
jellies at fourteen cents a pound it was
discovered that Eastern jellies could
1njure them, as they have, by cutting
rates to four cents a pound. The Cali
fornia product pushed back and not
enough Of it is able to hold its own
In the market 1t does not need an ex-
pert to understand that fruit, with
sugar and labor added, cannot be con-
verted into jellies, bottled and cased
and sold at four and four and a half
cents a pound as paying proposition
The San Francisco Board of Health
has had its chemical analyst, Mr.. Wen
Eel, at work to discover where the
joker is in this business, as the belief
obtained that the undercut was made
through adulteration and substitution
Mr.. Wenzel has made a partial report
and 1t amounts to this, that the East
ern jellies he has thus far examined
contain no fruit or berry substance OF
base whatever. but are villainous COM
pounds into which animal, not vegeta-
BILE, product enters. That is to say,
bullocks' blood is the base, and with
other deleterious ingredients mix
not half a cent a pound outside the
saccharine matter, and there is pre-
cious little of that. Thus, in a currant
and strawberry jelly analyzed by Mr..
Wenzel he finds not a single trace OF
either currant or strawberry.
The analyst expresses in his report
the indignation he feels over the frauds
which assault and sacrifice the health
of the people, SOW the seeds of disease
and offend and wreck the stomachs OF
the consumers. The question is, What
are we going to do about it?" The
answer is not far to seek-enforce the
law. The last Legislature passed and
the Governor approved a bill that COW
will meet the case of the jelly frauds
exactly. Instant, complete stoppage OF
the sale of these fraudulent foods can
be had and the further bringing in Of
the deleterious substances can be stop
ped. The whole matter lies in the hands
of the officials whose duty 1t is to en-
force the law. But these officials are
not likely to move unless some one
complains to them and points out the
road to conviction.
Who should do this? Surely the
Boards of Health for one, the State
Board Of Trade for another, the maker
of home jellies for another, and the
dealers In home products for another.
1t would appear that the matter OF
food adulterations might very well
form the subject Of official inquiry by
the county and municipal boards and
by the Grand Juries of the counties,
for what is there of greater concern
than the public health and the physi-
cal welfare of the people? If A. B. de-
frauds his neighbor, obtains money or
credit by false pretense, Grand Juries
will indict him and courts convict and
punish him. How much more impor-
tant it is that the secret inquisition
proceed against those other frauds and
cheats who not only obtain money by
false pretense, but do incalculable in
Jury besides to the health Of their VIC
tins.
It is a crime under the laws Of the
State to adulterate food, to offer for
sale any adulterated food, to have IN
keeping for distribution or sale any
fraudulent food. Now, then, let the
new Grand Jury about to begin its in
quiries turn its attention for mo-
ment from the cases Of petty larcenists
to the grave crime of the rascal who
labels a food as pure fruit and whole
some when it is impure and deleterious
But the Eastern manufacturer OF the
fraudulent fruit jelly is cunning, OF
thinks he Is. He labels his product
simply Jelly" He is careful not to
claim for it purity" Not often does
he label It fruit" or berry" jelly; he
simply marks 1t Jelly" with an under
or over line indicating what flavor 1t
is, as strawberry" or "currant-" We
apprehend, however, that this evasion
Will not save him; that Jelly" having
a generally accepted designation of
the kind will imply the representation
that It is made of strawberries, of cur
rants, ETC., and not of bullocks' blood,
apple cores and favoring extracts.
It would seem not difficult, then, to
run out the frauds and promote the
industry of the home makers Of pure
fruit jellies. It has been intimated
that not all the frauds are of Eastern
erig1n; that some of our home manu-
facturers have been engaged in the
utilization of the Eastern spurious ar
ticle to reduce and adulterate the home
product, and thus enhance Its selling
value on the principle upon which the
rascal proceeds who buys a barrel of
pure whisky, enlarges It's volume twice
by adding other fluid and restores the
apparent quality and strength by the
addition of villainous compounds pre-
pared for the purpose.
The jelly frauds, however, only indi-
cate a door that ought to be swung
wide open to the light of truth. They