The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-29
WORKING FOR PURE FOOD
SIONER HAS DONE FAITH
Full WORK
FIVE THOUSAND IN FINES
Comparison With Work Under Pre-
vfOus Administrations Shows How
ViEiIant the Present Conn
missioner Has Been.

The object of the various dairy and
food laws Of Minnesota Is to protect the
public against fraudulent, as we'll as
poisonous authorizations of dairy and food
products, and to encourage the dairy in
dustry and improve its products.
The subject of the adulteration of food
has Of late received much Intention in
all parts of the country, but not nearly
as much as its Importance demands, since
the health Of the people depends largely
on the food they eat. In regard to the
character Of food adulterants they may
for convenience form two classes One in
which the adulterant is in itself injurious
and another in which the adulterant Is in
itself not Injurious but Is g. cheaper ar
ticle or Is soil for what It Is not. The
various forms Of chemical representatives.
in milk, ought especially to be condemned
In the severest terms since milk is used
to a large extent by children and invalids,
and in such cases must prove particularly
II ur'ous. The more common forms of
chemical preservatives now used are boric
acid, salicylic acid, salts of benzoic
acid and formal1n. They are used
in great variety of foods,
as butter, milk and cream. telIies, pre-
serves, meats, oysters, fish, canned vege-
tables, catsups, pickles, etc. Of the coal
tar colons some are now known tkat are
not Injurious but since some are violent
poisons, the use Of all ought to be pro-
hfb1ted. They are used in all of the cheaD
and highly colored candies. also in saus-
ages and all catsups, in most preserves
and jeldes, and in butter and cheese. In
this class come also the poisonous salts OF
zinc anC copper which are used In canned
vegetables.
Inc aduIterants coming under the Sc
como class are very numerous and are
USED In variety of ways in a great
many common foods. Milk is SKINNED
and watered In the old fashioned wav.
In Minnesota the law fixes the standard
OF quality for milk, requiring at least 8. 20
per cent butter fat and this law is being
strictly enforced. Cream Is also s1lbiact
to adulteration, especially bv being dilntad
with milk, and to guard against this the
state law fixes 20 per cent fat as the mini
mum.
INVITATIONS OF BUTTER.
The value of cheese is sometimes low
ered by using partly SKINNED milk in the
making, or even by using milk from
winch all the fat has been removed.
Oleomargarine, colored In imitation of
butter, is often given to the unsuspecting
customer for the genuine article, especial
~ In restaurants and boarding houses
minnesota law requires hotel and restau-
rant keepers using oleomargarine for but
ter to notify the guests Of the same bv
pIacaros placed on the walls, or by a.
sentence printed on the bill of fare
PROCESS butter is a comparatively nauy
product but has already been a. very for
na1dabIe enemy of honest butter. It "a
made from butter which through age or
faulty manufacture is unfit for eating
out after being melted and rechurned II
IS frequently sold for creamery butter
and then IS fraud of the worst charae-
ter, and in this state is a violation NJ
the dairy laws
Lard Is frequently adulterated with
taIloW or cotton seed oil, ingredients not
harmful IN any way, but cheaper articles
sold for higher priced one.
Cider Veinegar has for a long time Of
fered an entcing field for the dishonest
manufacturer. Formerly much white
Wine vinegar, the cheap article. made
from corn or barley malt chiefly. was
coiored with burnt sugar and sold for
pure apple elder vinegar. To prevent
this the legislature some years ago mass
ed law requiring all cider vinegar to
contain at least per cent OF cider vine.
gar solids. This brought about q new
process OF adulteration. Sweet cider.
which contains large amount Of solid
matter, mostly sugar, Is evaporated down
to thick syrup, which Is added to the
white wine vinegar In an amount sum
cient to make 2 per cent of solids in tha
vinegar.
Jellies, jams and preserves NAV ha
adulterated in various ways. The state
food and dairy department has ex-
amined so-called fruit jellies In its
laboratory which did not contain a parh
Gle Of fruit, but were made entirely of
gelatine and starch paste. sweetened with
glucose and coiored and favored artifi-
cially with coal tar products.
HONEY ALSO ADULTERATED.
Strained and extracted honey also
comes in for Its share Of aduIteration.
The principal adulterants are glucose and
cane sugar Some samples have been re-
ceived. which contained no honey at all.
being pure glucose; others were glucose
with bit of comb in IT; others again
were mixtures of honey and glucose or
cane sugar. twenty-five per cent of the
honey taken to the laboratory was
found to be adulterated.
The grinder of spices need not rook far
for suitable adulterants for his goods
since a variety Of cheap material is at
hand. Corn meal and the husk Of the
peanut is used in ginger Wheat -four,
rice -four and corn starch colored with
turmerie "a vegetable COLOR are found in
mustard. AS a substitute for cinnamon
and cassia, cracker crumbs, ground CO.
eoanut shells and other dark colored nut
shells are used. Pepper shells, wheat
middlings, corn meal, rice -four. cracker