The times., 1898-07-03
FOOD FACTS.
DIR. Martin Tells HouseiSe epers How
TO Protect Themselves

terious food products. which, If put in
universal practice would soon make food
adulteration aOn-payipg business. THE
fact that during the past year more than
7,00O.0G0 pounds of food unfit for use have
been seized and destroyed. and nearly 800
persons engaged in the Illegal traffic have
been convicted and punished" said DR..
Martin, shows that the health officais
have not been idle during that period of
time. But when the enormous quantity
of food brought into the city each year.
amounting 10 billions OF pounds in weight.
is considered. it can be seen readily that.
to make such supervision faultless, the
expense would be correspondingly enor-
nous.
There are, however" corlduued DR..
Martin, . Rumber of simple. inexpen-
sive home tests, easily applied, and re-
quiring only the expenditure Of a little
time. which would make every house
wife her own food inspector. and which
would do more than any official action
could to lessen the evil effects Of this
nefarous traffic. which seeks profit at
the expense Of the good health of the
NC-A@AAAN+@--NJv
of life itself" Among the home tests
suggested by DR.. Martin for the detec-
ton of food unfit for use through aduI-
teration. or from other causes, are the
following:
The bright green color Of pickles is
often due to the presence of salts of
copper in solution To detect this crush
small piece of the pickle, place i in
a cup with a bright coarse needle. and
at the erj of - minutes. if there was
any copper in the pickle the needle will
be coated with red filn. This test can
made more interesting by placing the
needle, after it is taken from the pickle.
in a cup containing teaspoon of am
monia water. The latter Will become
bright blue in color if copper has been
precipitated on the needle. Such pickles
are harmful, and should be thrown away
Rancid or poor butter is easily detect
ed by its taste or smell, but oleomarga-
rine, which is a complete substitution
of another substance. in place of dairy
butter. is difficult of detection even by
experts A simple test for suspected
butter is to place some of it in a tin cup
and heat II on the stove. at the same
time stirring the substance with a fork
If it is oleomaTgarine considerable
spiuttering and splitting will take place
On the other hand. genuine butter meIts
quickly with little or no noise
In selecting canned food always take
the cans that have dents IN them. Cans
that are smooth and well rounded out
are likely to be what are known as
''sweled cans" which is caused by gas
formed through fermentation. Dents in
the can are proof of the absence of fer
mentation- When a can is opened the
inner sides should be examined: If they
4
upon by acids. the contents of the can
should not be used. Canned corn. peas.
or beans should never be sour. To de-
tect sourness the litmus pencil. sO-Called
is Il useful household friend One end
of the pencil is blue and the other red.
If too much acidity is suspected. put a
little of the liquid on a piece of stout
white paper, or if IL is a solid mOiSten
somewhat and make a mark with the
blue end of the pencil. If the substance
is acid, the blue mark viii turn red at
once In test for excessive aIkai use
the red end of the pencil when the red
mark will turn blue if the substance is
alkaline.
If a few grains of coffee are dropped
into a small quantity of cold water II
will be found that. if the coffee IS adul-
terated. more or less COIJring matter will
show in the water. Genuine coffee i'm
parts no color 10 cold water. Another
test is 10 take a needle and try 10 pick
up grains CT ground coffee; chicOry and
other adultcrants are so soft that they
are easily penetrated by the needle :
point. while genuine coffee is hard and
very difficult to be picked up in thar way.
What is known as lie" tea is often
substituted IN place Of genuine tea. This
| lie tea is prepared by rolling up grains
of sand with tea leaves already used. 81
as 10 initiate the weight and plumpness
of genuine tea leaves. II can be detected
by moistening the suspected tea and
carefully opening the leaves with a
needle, thereby disclosing the hidden
| grains of sand. Leaves of the oak, plum.
peach and sloe are also used as adulter-
| ants and can be detected by comparison
with leaves of genuine tea
| Freshly caught fish have bright gillS
/ and clear. bead-like eyes; when fish be
| come stale the gills assume a pinkish
| hue. and the eyes become whitish and
/ opaque. and they remain SO. no matter
how often the fish dealer dOuches them
with water to give them an appearance
1 of freshness. A lobster that has beer
! boiled after death can readily be detect
/ ed by pulling the tail out straight. as tht
| tail will then remain outstretched Oh
| curve inward again very slowly; where
| as, if the lobster was boiled while alive
| the tail will spring quickly back intC
| place
| The chief foreign ingredient in adul-
| terated sugar nowadays is starch: tc
| detect its presence drop of tincture oil
| iodine in a teaspoonfUl of water applied
| to the suspected sugar will cause a blue
| color to appear. if starch or -four Is
mixed with the sugar. This test can be
successfully used with any substance ir
which starch appears as an adulteranr
| To detect sand or other adulterant thai
is not soluble. dissolve tablespoonful
| of sugar in bottle containing four OF
six ounces of water. Allow it to stand
q hours and the sediment, if any, which
| falls to the bottom of the bottle will
! show the character of the adulterant
| If there is sand. the sediment will fee
/ gritty TO the touch; If there is carbonate
/ of lime it will give off bubbles of gas
| when a few drops of vinegar are added
| and the sediment is moved
| A drop of artifieially-colored wine le
/ fall into a tumbler of cold water viii
| rapidly impart its color to the water
genuine wine does not do this so readily
! Another test is to moisten the finger.
! with wine and rub them briskly to
| gether; if the wine is artificially coloret
| the fingers will be stained; If genuin,
/ they will not. The bitter taste of beel
| is often initiated in authorizations by al
infusion of picric acid. To detect thi!
heat a cup of the beer. made acid by
adding a few drops of vinegar. While i
is still warm. immerse in it a few
strands of white wool yarn. and if picri'
acid is present the wool will be dyed vel
| low.
A quick test of milk is to mix it well
! and then nour If from a glass Pure un