The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-25

From the department of chemistry, Florida Agricultural Experiment station, comes Press Bulletin No. 81, written by A. w Blair, on the adulteration of coffee. The article follo15:
 To the casual observer 1t would hardly seem possible that the berry from which America's favorite morning beverage is extracted should be extensively adulter- ated; but that this is true is full borne out by extensive investigations carried on by the United States department of agriculture, Washington, D. C.. and by a number of the state experiment stations.
 Food aduterations may be grouped into two classes: First, those which are inju- rious to health, and example of which Is the addition of salicylic acid or formalde- hyde to milk to preserve 1t; second, those which are simply fraudulent in their na- ture as the extraction of fat from milk, or the addition of ground peanut or CO., coanut shells to ground coffee, spices and peppers.
 To this latter class belongs most of the adulteration which is praticed on coffee. This fraudulent adulteration may again be grouped into two classes: First, sub stitution; that is, where some substance, as, for example, chicory or cereal prod uct is substituted for coffee; second, imi- tation; that is, where some other sub stance is manufactured and placed upon the market in imitation of the genuine product as oleomargarine for butter, or cottonseed oil for olive oil.
 The senate committee on manufactures from the first session of the Fifty-sixth congress summoned to appear before 1t a great many witnesses-men Of distinc- tion from different parts of the country, and representing different professions and callings-to give testimony as to the ex- tent and character of the adulteration of food products. Professor E. H. Jenkins, vice director of the Connecticut experi- ment station Connecticut has a food law), was one of these witnesses and testified in part as follows Coffee has been very largely adulterated-I mean the cheaper grades of ground coffee. The coffee that Is sold whole is not often adul- terated. We have, however. found whole coffee containing crushed peas and chic ory and artificial coffee, of which shall speak later; but the ground coffees, sell ing for 25 cents pound and under, have been extensively adulterated with chicory. with cruSned peas, WltH al dttiHSidi coiitc, and with what we call coffee pellets Imitation coffee is wheat middlings or flour, and possibly a little gum, moulded into cylinders perhaps the size Of the lit- tie finger, and roasted. Then that is crushed, and each fragment has the curve of the cylinder, and does not look en- tireiy unlike the crushed coffee. Besides that, there are added pellets-pea- -hulls, which are made into pellets little larger than pea heads"
 Another witness. Professor Victor c. Vaughan of the University of Michigan (MIchigan also has food law), said, among other things Now, ground cof- fees are largely adulterated. I suppose most people know that these coffees are adulterated. Some of them have no coffee fin them at all, but still they are sold as coffee. And then there are coffee substi- tutes which are sold in some parts of the United States as brands of coffee-Father Kneipp's Coffee Everybody who knows anything about it knows that there Is no coffee at all in that; but the government allows 1t to be sold as coffee. and many people who buy 1t think they are getting a special brand of coffee"
 pr. H. W. Wiley. chief chemist of the United States department of agriculture, also gave testimony before this commit tee. and on the subject of coffee he said, in part: "vcry extensive adultsreNons of the unground coffee berry have hsef prac-