New-York tribune., 1899-11-14
HOW FOODS ARE ADULTERATED.
PROFESSOR WILEY SAYS THERE SHOULD BE
WHOLESOME LEGISLATION BUT MOI
PROHIBITIvE LAWS.

washington Nov. 13 (SpeciaD. Professor
Wiley Of the Agricultural Department VINO mas
been assisting for several months past in the IN
vestigations Of the Senate Select Committee Oh
Food Aduterants, had this to say to-day ABOUT
food adulteration in the United States
While It is true that almost every article OF
human food at some time or in some country
has been adulterated. 1t does not follow tha'
there is general adulteration of food products
You may select a hundred samples or 1000,
bought At random in the open market ana you
will find that hardly per cent OF them are
adulterated There is little or no aduItera.lon
OF our staple articles of food. Take flour. sugar,
meat, vegetables and other staples, ana they
will not be found to be adulterated.
Still. we must not shut our eyes TO the rae.
that there are some aditerations or lose sight
OF the necessity OF wholesome legislation upon
the subject. | believe in pure food law put
not in a prohibitive law. Let the man who wants
oleomargarne have II, but don't palm IL OH on
the man who wants butter. II man wants
glucose and cornstarch let him have them but
not in the guise Of something else. We have one
pure food law in operation uow-the act or
Congress which taxes and labels mixed four'
Before this law went into effect 1t was the Gus
tom Of some manufacturers TO mix cornstarch
which costs cent and a quarter pound
with -four, which might cost three cents
pound, thereby making profit Of 30 or AZ cents
on barrel. The law requires that such mix
ture shall be labelled and puts an internal reve-
rue tax on IT, AS a result the sale CT mixed
-four has almost ceased.
am not opposed. for instance. to the use OF
substitutes for malt in the making Of beer, but
Of course am against the use Of preservatlVe
acids, and since the Department OF Agriculture
began crusade against acids in bottled beers
the brewers have practically abandoned 1t, and
now pasteurize their bottled beer to preserve it.
American beers, as rule, are good The use OF
rice or corn. or the product OF corn. In beer as
substitute for barley malt need not necessarily
make ii harmful to the human system. Some
beer drinkers prefer the light. sparkling beers
made from rice and corn. In response to the
demands of custom. some brewers now mix old
and new beers, producing sparkling compound
much appreciated For the best beers brewers
use barley altogether for grain for the medium
beers they use from 30 to 75 per cent barley,
and even for the poor beers they use one-thrd
barley.
We find adulteration in ground coffee and In
spices, but not harmful. In coffee they
chiccory or the dead berries of the coffee grain.
This is prohibited in Germany and they ship
the dead berries TO the United States. This
practice is not unwholesome, but is objection
able, and ought 10 have a law TO protect our
coffee drinkers. 1t is a fact that food adultera-
ton is practised in Europe but. I have said.
they have laws to protect the customers. and
the adulterated food comes to us. We acknowl-
edge that food aduteration is recognized evil
in this country, but to say that American food
products. as a whole, are adulterated is alb
surd. The foreigners are always glad 10 get
holdsof such statement, however, and use II
TO prejudice the sale OF our goods