The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-10
FOR PURE FOODS
CONTINUED from Page L.


lily added TO food. Provided a color g.
harmless and is no. used TO bring about
TO some other more valu-
able article. / can So. little more harm I.
in coloring articles OF food than in .
,oloring articles of clothing. - a rule.
however. colors are added TO food To
initiate something else or IL make il
appear of more value than IL really j..
The use OF harmful coioring material
is not very extended for manufacturers
OF any standing keep themselves posted
on these matters and the coal tar dyes
when pure afford a means OF giving
any color without doing harm. These
colors are of course not food in any
sense and looked at from this stand
point their use should he looked upon
with disfavor.
Poisonous colors are those contain
ing lead, copper, arsenic. chromium ana
zinc. and few organic colors. such as
gamboge. picric acid and naphthalene
yellow. Most cOlors derived from ami
NAL or vegetable substances are not
poisonous as also the majority of coal
tar colors when pure.
The following articles OF food are
often colored: Sausages pink or red
with coal tar dyes, oleomargarine yell
low with annuato, Jurmeric, or coal tar
colors: ground spices with various and
sometimes poisonCGs colors; tomato
catsup and sauces with coal tar dyes:
pickles and canned vegetables such rs
peas green with copper salts; wines
with coal tar dyes; liquors and vine
gar with caramel; cakes and confeC-
tionery, flavoring Syrups and ice cream
generally with coal tar colors; teas are
faced with prussian blue, indigo and
plumbago; green .Cffee with indigo,
lead chromate and ultramarine: roast
ed coffee with caramel.
Candy, etc. from reputable makers
is as a rule coloTed with harmless
colors: that frola itinerant vendors
should often be looked on with sus-
picion. | have recsntly obtained from
Japanese on :ha street here. candy
colored with naphthdiene yellow which
is poisonous. 1t is u very prevalent
idea that alum is added to bread to
make it white. While this may have
been true in the past | do not think It
is the rule now.
The use of alum in baking powder
has been the source of much discus
sion. While il has been acknowledged
that alum in bread is exceedingly in
ing powder the reaction which ensues
leaves the alum as alumina hydrate i'm
soluble in the juices of the stomach.
On the other hand ii has been shown
that alumina hydrate is not so insolu-
BILE in the stomach as has been sup
posed and that often all of the alum Is
not decompoSed. the opinion is gain
ing ground that alum in baking powder
should not be allowed, and last year
the legislature OF Missouri passed bill
prohibiting alum, among other things
in any article of food or in anything
entering in any way into food.
In the class of accidental addition Oh
presence of injurious substances IL
food we find lead and tin from the can:
in which the food has been preserved
arsenic or other poisonous metals in
| troduced with impure coloring materia
! and ptomains the result OF bacteria
| action on the food itself. Lead Is mos
apt to be found in foods which ar
| liquid. somewhat acid, and not mucl
| thickened with sugar; and its presenc
is due TO the action of the acid presen
on the solder which consists chiefly q
lead. | recently had occasion to- repor
Il sample of tomato soup containing u.
| grains of lead ~ 4 quart can. but
! have since examined several cans q
the same brand and found no leat
The exact conditions necessaryto hTin
about action on the solder are perhap
| obscure, time, temperature and IRE
| quent shaking probably all figure
the case. To guard however agains
these chance orleans / think manu-
facturerS should ne forced to- nut n
goods with no solder on the inside q
the cans. In the case of nearly all Eu
ropean canned goods the cans ar
either made without solder or with IN
solder on the outside only.
In cases where lead is found. tin
generally found also. but all the cv
dence seems to indicate that the II
is in such combination that il is nc
absorbed in the stomach. and while ,
course its presence is undesirable n
cases of poisoning from tin in the foo
are on record. Copper is apt to- Il
| present in foods prepared in coupe
| utensils also in soda water and artif
cial mineral waters from contact wit
the copper apparatus used.
AS already noted most OF the coal a
| colors are harmless when pure. but TN
| fortunately arsenic Is used in one stag
of the manufacture OF many OF theI
and the commercial articles often con
tain appreciate quantities. hav
| recently examined tomato Catsi,
highly colored with a coal tar dye SUI
| posed TO be harmless and have obtain
ed from il arsenic reactions quit
| readily.
Syrups and light colored molasse
are apt to contain tin or zinc: salts q
these metals being used 10 bleach thes
articles and being imperfectly remove,
Cases of poisoning attributed I
| ptomaines are not uncommon. Pc
maines are basic chemical bodies IN
result of the action OF bacteria on nj
rcgenous substances. y number. ne
all OF which are poisonous have bee
isolated and their chemical comp1s
ton and structure determined. Tt
| ANant nnlitinn. r,.hs-L En.-..r IL. -