Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-04-06
CHEMIST PRAISES BEEF
Professor ChittcnAen OF Yale Gives
Result of an Analysis.
FOUND CANNED MEAT GOOD.
Says 1t ls Doubtful, However. If the
Food Ii Suitable For a Trop-
ical Climate Because
Of the Heat.

| sell II, Chittenden of Yale college, L
whom the army beef intrusted the anal
ysis OF the canned roast beef of the va
rious companies from whom the gov
eminent had made purchases of this ar
ticle, gave the result of his examination
Colonel Davis reading his report ant
also the instructions of the court te
him. The instructions showed thai
| three cans each of the canned roast
| beef prepared by the Prairie Canning
| company, the Armour company and the
Wilson company, which had been ex-
| posed to tropical climate, were furnish
ed to Professor Chittendon.
His report dealt largely with the
chemical methods employed, but the re-
suit was entirely favorable to the beef
as a food product He stated that he
had made a careful study of the sam
pies furnished, having analyZed all OF
them. comparing them with fresh beef
and devoting himself also to determin-
ing the presence or absence of preserv-
atives.
He had, he said, found the contents
perfectly sweet and emitting the odor
dlWayo given OuI Wy NSoNIh i''S''s' 80
some cans the meat particles were
large. while in others they were not.
The fat particles were generally found
collected on one side or the other of the
cans. Notwithstanding the meat had
been placed in bottles and exposed 10
the warm air Of the laboratory, it had
retained its freshness for several days.
1t had then developed mold. afterward
decomposing.
Was Good Beef.
In all samples supplied the proportion
of tat and protein was such as to bring
them into the range of good beef Con-
siderable attention was given to the
large layer OF fat found on the surface
of each can, which, as found by him,
was always solid.
Professor Chttenden had found upon
investigation that the fat melted at IS
In q lower temperature and that, once
melted. it did not again solidify at a
higher temperature than So c.
The presence of the melted fat rem
dered 1t doubtful whether food was
suitable for a tropical climate except
under conditions when extreme heat
could be guarded against or where veg
etables, to be cooked with the meat,
were available.
No Boracic Acid.
All the samples had shown the pres
ence Of gelatin, but careful tests had
failed to develop either boracic or sail
cylic acid. The specimens supplied by
the Wilson Packing company (Which
,were cornedl, showed the presence of
salt or saltpeter. Some of the meats
were red. giving rise to the Suspicion
that they might have been colo,ed by
an aniline dye, as in the case of saul
sage. Tests had. however, failed to
show that such was the case.
1t was made evident that the meat
was boiled rather than roasted. On this
account there was a loss of some of the
inorganic salts and therefore some of
its nutritive qualities. Still there was
sufficient protein in one can of the beef
to sustain man for two days.
Major Lee only entered upon a slight
cross examination of the witness, ask
ing time for the examination Of the re-
port. 1t was then arranged that Mr..
Chittenden should return next Tuesday
for this cross examination.
Claims Chemicals Were Used.
DR.. Samuel A. Currie, who was lieu
tenant colonel of the Second New Jer-
sey and was stationed at Jacksonville
during the war, expressed the opinion
in testifying that the refrigerator beef
had been soaked in some preservative
fluid containing salicylc acid, but he
afterward said his first idea had been
that the acid had been injected. The
view that lcids had been used was
appeared to grow dark upon coming
into contact with the iron of the butch
er's knife.
He had taken piece of the meat and
tested it for salicylic acid, getting a
decided reaction. On another occasion
he secured boracic acid reaction. zone
popularity of the meat" he said, was
that 1t kept SO well and smelled so bad
ly." He had considered the canned
meat unfit for his men to eat and had
advised them not to eat it. The mat
appeared stringy and was in nowise
1t smeled badly and was in
nutritious.
DR.. Currie said he had discovered
some 10 or - years ago by actual tests
that Swift & Co. used salicylic acid to
preserve their meats. Two months ago
he had made similar test of beef fur
nshed by Armour & Co. at his own
home in Englewood. N. j., and had
found that 1t contained salicyic acid
The beef thus examined looked paler
on the SUI ace than other beef. He
thought beef could be treated either by
lnjection or immersion in the acid.