The Anaconda standard., 1898-02-02
BUTTE News.
PURE FOOD PURE FICTION
That Is to Say, Whole Lot of 1t
Is, Anyhow.
IT DECEWES THE EYE
Ii Also Deceives the Taste OF Many Peo-
pie Who Don't Display Good Taste
in What They Eat Peculiar
Tricks of the Grub Trade.


have been buying and eating an imita-
tion article of cheese. The use OF oleo-
margarine for butter, on the other hand
has become so general that ii is now a
common thing and many persons eat X
knowing ii Is the imitation and don
care whether it is or not. The imitation
or filled cheese which mas given
American dairy products SO pad a name,
especially abroad, is made py taxing
the cream out of the milk and intfoduc-
ing lard. cotton seed oil or some other
FAT. Lard itself is adulterated with cot
Ton seed oil and stearine. while cotton
seed oil figures brazenly as olive OIL
from France under natty colored
French label. Olive oil IL worth ~ a sal-
lon and cotton seed OIL 40 cents.
The aduiteration of milk has been rec
ornized as a crying evil. and almost
every large city has strict laws against
it. Dishonest dealers in milk nave
slaughtered tens of thousands OF bables.
Water is the most common adulterant
of milk; but analysis mace oy the
chemists of the government nave SHOWN
salt saltpetre saleratus, caustic soda
and sugar in milk. Cltramarine is
milk adulterant known TO be IN use III
Germany, but not here. Butter mas peeh
adulterated with water, oleoInargarlne.
lard, alkalies. rancid butter cotton SEED
oil. beef suet and Olive oil. When the
nleomargarine bill was debated in the
United States senate some years ago,
Senator ingalls, created much meffimehl
by exhibiting a bottle of coioring mat
ter which was offered by the makers 10
farmers with view 10 giving butter
richer color and decelNlnS the purchaser
as 10 its quality.
Dealers in adulterants are constantly
on the track of grocers, persuadlhS
them how easy 1t is TO make an extra
dollar or two by mixing fraudulent with
a rtalf a
Not many years ago concern dealing
in terra alba. or white earth, was eX-
posed in the act of offering its product
to -four makers. candy makers ana gro
GERS TO be put in flour and candy. Ihere
is a large amount of this white earth
nut into the American stomach every
year. We cannot afford TO point the
finger of scorn at the elay-eater of
Georgia.
There have come TO light in recent
years facts about adulterants OF food
products which show an extraordinary
condition Of affairs
We eat artificial eggs
We dust powdered black walnut on
our food under the impression that u y
pepper.
we drink an infusion of molasses
and flour which is called coffee
We swallow gypsum and ffussiah
blue with our tea.
we pour caraway seed, salycilc acid
and glycerlne into our stomachs IN the
name of beer.
we use cotton seed oil on salad and
think ii Is olive oil.
We spread oleomargarine fat on our
bread believing that 1t is butter.
We are hefooled and befuddled on
every hand by the puryeyors of food
and drink until we are never safe from
imposition at the table.
There are state laws to prevent adul-
teiations of some common articles oi
food Massachusetts. Ohio and Indiana
have general pure food laws. Illinois
passed law lately forbidding the use
of coloring matter in oleomargarne
That law has settled the oleomargarine
business in Illinois. You can't sell Z
substitute for one of the staple articles
of food unless you are prepared to de
eeive the consumer into the belief tina
II is the real article. Coffee substitutes
never sell TO coffee drinkers. They ar
served TO restaurant keepers. who serN'
them as coffee.
The United States government
has made laws against the sale of oleo
margarine under any other name. Late
Is ii has passed a law against the sale
of filled" cheeses, OF cheese adulterat
ed with cotton seed oil. and it has made
new law TO prevent the importation
of adulterated teas.
The tea business has been fuil o
fraud and misrepresentation 10
years. Tea of Il low grade has beei
sold as genuine Bohea" in large guam
titles, there Is not enough real Bohea II
the world To I'LL the demand in tn
United States alone. All green teas ar
colored, usually with a small amoun
Of Prussian blue and gypsum NO on
knows where the tradition of the excel
lence of green tea originated. but il ha
come down through many generations
The Chinaman colors his tea To pleas
the barbarianS" as he calls the Amerl
cans. and sometimes ne uses Diac
lead tumeric and indigo in facing III
leaf Sometimes he fills out a shpmef
with spent OF exhausted leaves. SOME
times in place of gypsum he uses SON
other astringent, such as soapston
sulphate of iron. metallic iron. sand an
copper. The chinaman has been knew
10 fill in a shipment with tea dust
the amount of % per cent. Under III
law 4 per cent is the limit OF dust a
lowed. and though teas treated Wit
Prussian blue and gypsum in sma
quantities are not barred out. otn'
adulterants render q shipment liable
deportation or destruction. STANDARD
for the grading of all teas have bee
adopted, and not tea falling below the'
standards will be admitted
But while the government protec
the consumer against adultefaNed LEI
and oieomargarine, nothing ~ uoI
about coffee and cocoa, and these al
anuitefdleu quite Is pduiN dS itd. i
can not rely on buying coffee in Il
bean 1t is almost as much adulterat'
that way as 1t is in any other. Artii
cial coffee beans. made chiefly of fiol
and molasses, can not be separate
from the genuine by any but an ..
pert These beans are nodded 10 Il
exact shape of a coffee bean. and IN
are roasted" or green, according
the taste of the buyer. Ground cnft
is even more uncertain than the cof
beans Government investigators AL
bought ground coffee IN the open ma
ket reported. after chemical analEs,
that almost every sample obtained 60
tanned some aaulterant. Sometim
there was no coffee present som
times there was Z little coffee mix
with peas. chicory. beans, barley, Ga
buckwheat, sawdust. wheat -four, bra
pea hulIs molasses, rye -four or cor
some of these were unObjectionabie s.
..or,t !. fl-aaILs Inn 1nMa MnLe U