The Washington times., 1901-11-18
FOOD ANALYSIS
FOR ADULTERANTS.
LARlRS OF THE REALTH CHEMIST.
Interiors in Dairy Products, Medi-
lcines. and Beverages Sold I'm the
- City Described.

Sfhe chemist Of the District Health De-
partTnont is a busy man in the public
service. His time is spent in the careful
: analysis Of supposed aGulterated foods,
medicines, or beverages, brought to him
by the inspectors Of the dspartme rt.
samples of milk, cream, butter, lard, and
many other articles are put TO the tests
applied TO prove their standard Of puri-
Discussing his labors, the chemist said
recently that during the last fiscal year
he l-.ade I,2o5 separate analyses. the num-
Der being 4ls greater than the previous
year He said that the chief burden Of
ms work was the examination of the sam
pss of milk and cream brought to him
every day by one or more Of the inspec-
to-. The list Of analyses for the fiscal
va was as follows:
~ samples; cream. 50: butter. Is;
larc %: vinegar, "a; cider q; olive oil. l3;
phenacetin 70; forma.dehyde, II; Fow-
ler's solution Of arsenic, 10; chloride Of
lime, :, and water, l45
The Local Milk supply.
Referring "a report on the subject
by the Health officer the chemist
stated that 357 of the samples of milk
tested were taken from the various milk
dealers Of the city. and that they showed
an average percentage of fat Of ~. He
said The inspectors had taken lSJ samples
Of milk from cans at the Baltimore and
Ohio depot, and these showed AZ per cent
Of iet. The $50 samples taken from cans
at Hic Baltimore and Potomac depot. he
said. showed 45 per cent OF iai Som-
rncnting upon these results OF analysis.
the che mist said that while the milk OF
the local dealers showed higher percen-
taEe of fat. ii was more variable than
that coming from the Gepots. Of the
samples collected from local dealers 15.l
pes cent was below standard. while but
SIS Per cent Of those collected from the
Baltimore and Ohio depot and per cent
Of those collected from the Baltimore and
Potomac depot. were below standard.
In the sale Of cream the local dairy
men produce better product than that
shipped in from the outside. ana OF the
samples Of cream examined, the chemist
said that only one-fifth Of those taken
from local dealers was below the legal
standard while one-haf Of those coming
from the country showed different degrees
OF oiiutiGu-
Running briefly over his records, the
chemist gave the following results of his
work for tho Last fiscal years: Three.
samples sold a. lard were found to be mix
ture6 Of beef suet and cotton seed oil;
eight IF the samples Of vinegar were
merely chCap limitations, SIX samples OF
cider were adulteratcd with saicylic acid /,
six samples Of so-called olive oil were
made from cotton seed, and one sample
sold as butter was found to be uleo-
margarine.
Substitution of Inferior Drugs.
From a paragraph la the report referred
TO above it appears that samples Of
phcnacotin were purchased from various
drug stores on prescriptions to detect, II
possible. the frequency Of substitution. In
one instance acetanilid, a cheaper ma
tcriaL was substituted for the material
demanded In other cases the prcscrip-
tions were properly filed An analysis Of
a .sasaple' of a material sold on pre-
scEiptiOn calling FOR a proprietary article.
other substance had been substituted. For
technical reasons II was impracticable TO
maintain prosecutions in either OF the pre-
ceding cases
Tests were made upon samples Of
chloride Of lime to ascertain whether this
common disinfCct1ut. as sold by dealers,
is up TO the legal requirements. The
chemist explained that chloride Of lime
depends fer its disinfectiDg properties on
the amount Of available chloride which
IL contains. He thought il should in all
Szr-vs- conform 20 the requirements Of law.
II not q single instance. however did the
sa,7ples do 50, the amount Of available
ch'o.Sne varying from TO l7.3 per cent,
whereas the legal standard Is 70 per cent.
OF she samples Of water anaiyZed, the
record shows that 81 came from private
wells. 30 from dairies and dairy farms.
and j from public wells. Reports were
issued eondcmniuR 81 Of the samples from
private wells, /; from dairies, and frc m
public wells.