The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-12-22
BY ALL MEANS A FOOD CONTROL
BOARD.
A Matter Upon Which Legislative
Acti..n is Badly Needed.


At recent meeting of the Watau
ga Club in Raleigh Prof. W. A. With
ers. Chemist and acting Director OF
the North Carolina Agricultural Ex-
pertinent Station, read an interesting
and instructive paper on the subject
of food adulteration from which the
following extract is taken:
Said Prof. Withers:
The practice Of food adulteration
is not modern but existed even among
Gods chosen people for we find re-
corded by the great law giver the
regulation ..you shall do no upright
eousness in judgment, yard, weight
or in measure; just balance, just
ephah, and a just bin shall We have"
The methods Of testing for adulter-
alton while far from perfect at the
present day are in advance of those
OF the sixteenth century in England
where the ale testers among other
things were instructed to pour lit
tie ale ON the bench and sit on it and
IL their leather breeches stuck to the
bench the presence of added sugar
was definitely proven. With the
chemical balance and the microscope,
it is perhaps true now that nc harm
full adulteratiOn can be added in dan
gerous quantities which may not be
detected. The most advanced and
recent national legislation proposed
is embodied in the Faulkner-Brosius
bill which has the endorsement OF 81
national organizations and 81 State
and local, commercial, scientific,
agricultural and manufacturing or
CARNATIONS together with that Of the
representatives of 7 Of the great de-
partments of our government and Of
"a States and the District of Column
bia. 1t is interesting to us to know
that this is an outgrowth Of a bill in
troduced in the 48th Congress by the
Hon. Wharton j. Green, Of North
Carolina, which secured for the first
time national legislation in the inter
est of pure food.
The investigation as to the extent
of the adulteration of food articles in
North Carolina was begun by the Ex-
pertinent Station during the present
year
Eighty-four per cent. of the samples
| of cider vinegar were found adulter-
ated, or untrue to name, being mostly
spirit vinegar.
! Eighty-seven per cent. of the SAM
Piles of baking powders were found to
contain alum, which is injurious to
the health, some even contained prac-
ticallv no available carbOnic acid and
could not therefore be of any value
in causing bread to rise.
Thirty per cent. of the samples Of
roasted coffee examined were found
adulterated with broken grains, or
were faced or glazed in excessive
quantities. In fact all the others
but one were also glazed but in small
amounts.
| FOrty-fOur per cent. of the samples
of tea were found faced in small
quantities. This facing, while in small
quantities, is of no effect except to
make the lower grades appear better,
and it is therefore to be condemned.
Sixty samples of sugar were ex-
amined but no adulteration was found
in any sample.
Sixteen per cent. of the samples of
flour were found to contain corn
flour and one sample had alum also.
No other mineral adulteration was
found present but a sample of mineral
inc was exhibited which is prepared
in North Carolina for the purpose OF
adulterating flour.
| Fifty per cent. of the canned vege-
tables were found to contain lead,
copper or salicylic acid, which sub
stances in large quantities are harm
full.
No spoiled meats were found
among the canned meats, but at
present only a few samples have been
secured.
Including sugar and canned meats,
which were not found adulteratcd,
the average found in North Carolina
was nearly 40 per cent.
These samples, with few excep-
tions, were purchased in the open
market in the cities of Raleigh, Will
mington, Charlotte, Statesville Hen
derson and Durham and may be taken
therefore as representatives of what
would be obtained by an ordinary
purchaser. In each class Of food we
found that the lower grades are much
more liable to adulteration while the
higher grades are practically free
from adulteration. The poor man
who is least able to do so, is com
PEELED to suffer most.
1t is impossible to more than ap-
proximate the loss from adulteration
but if we suppose that one article in
every twenty is adulterated, which is
about one-eighth of what was actually
found in the samples tested, and
these to the extent of one-tifth OF
their bulk, then the loss will be exact.
ly one per cent. or one hundredth
of the total cost of the food
The cost of food per capita varies
very much but if we take five dollars
per month as about the average, then
the annual cost for more than a mil
lion and half people of North Caro-
lima would be about one hundred
million dollars. One hundredth OF
the amount or one million dollars
will probably represent the annual
loss to the State from adulteration.
Boards for the control of the sale
of food exist in other States. Why
should not North Carolina establish
food control?