The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-09

and Cofee Ought to- Be Reached,
Too.
The biennial report Of State Dairy
| and Food Commissioner Anderson,
| is ready. The report has been placed
IN the hands of the printer and will
| be ready for distribution in a short
time. A number Of important amend
ments, which will enable. the depart
| ment to better enforce the pure food
laws Of the state, are proposed for
| the consideration of the legislature.
| The state commission finds itself
without power to further it's crusade
| against manufacturers who adulterate
coffee, maple sugar and canned goods.
These three commodities are about the
| only food articles which the commits
| sion is at present unable to regulate
| the sale of.
When the law creating the commits
sion was first passed in 1889 it pre-
| scribed the functions of the depart
ment and made it unlawful for manu-
facturers of certain food products to
place AN adulterated article on the
market. Since that time many amend
| ments have been made to the law COW
ering all manufactured food products
with the exception of the three named
above.
The adulteration of coffee has be-
| come SO great an evil that the commits
sion have recommended in the strong
est terms the passage of an amend
ment to the original law which will
give 1t power to regulate It's sale.
Of late there has been a great de-
nand for cheap grade of coffee, and
1t is to meet this demand that tons
Of adulterated coffee have been dump
ed ON the market by Eastern jobbers
and sold to the local trade for a ridic-
ulously low figure. It is not the aim
of the commission to stop the sale Of
this coffee, for as long as there Is
demand for very cheap grade 1t
cannot be expected that mAnufactur-
ers can put UP high grade article for
half what it cost. The commission,
on the other hand, seeks to secure a
proper labelling of this class Of coffee,
as in the case of baking powder and
flour and many other important food
products which are regulated In their
sale by both state and national laws.
Through the present system OF pure
food laws the purchaser can determine
by reading the label whether the food
contains an adulterant, with, however,
the exceptions Of coffee, maple sugar
and canned goods. OF course, coffee
cannot be placed in the same class with
canned goods and maple sugar, as 1t
is largely sold in bulk, while the two
latter are manufactured and put UP
in packages. BY reason Of it's com-
ing IN bulk no effort would be made
by the commission to regulate it's sale
were it not for the increasing amount
which Is adulterated and sold each
year. Sugar is sold in bulk, but the
authorities do not pretend to regulate
its sale, as it is all manufactured by
trust, and is rarely if ever adulterat-
ed, except where some merchant puts
sand in his sugar"
Less adulteration is effected in CAM
ned goods than would generally be sup
posed. 1t Is not so easy in this class
| of goods for the manufacturer to pene-
| trate fraud. The state dairy and food
| commission desire to include canned
goods under the pure food laws, as
| preventative measure, as each year
| opens new avenues for fraud and al
ready some experiments are being tried
! by dishonest manufacturers.
Maple sugar Is as rule regarded as
an unimportant article of food, yet a
great amount Of it is sold every year,
and a large amount Of It Is adulterated,
partly with a low grade of sugar and
! glucose. This has also been included
in the list.
The commission also proposes amend
ments regulating the sale, of vinegar,
filled cheese, oleomargarine and milk.