Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-11-21
IMPURITIES IN FOOD.

L
j. Q. Emery of Madison, state dairy
and food commissioner, delivered an
exceedingly interesting and instructive
lecture on "Adulteration of Food in
the court house last evening. The haEl
Was completely filled with people,
Iamong whom were the members of the
Ladies Literary club, who were resp0n-
lslble In having Mr.. Emery come here.
IIhe exhibit of adulterated articles of
food attracted great deal of attention
In his address last night Commission
Ter Emery suggested possible menu
4 for one day that any family in the
United States might make use Of. This
was to show the extent of the use of
artificial coloring and antiseptics in
food. A surprising array of figures
was given. He spoke upon the kinds
of food adulteration, of the origin and
evolution of the Wisconsin food laws,
of the necessity for food laws which
eliminate the element of Intent as neces-
sary for conviction, the enactment of
such laws by Wisconsin and other
states and quoted the supreme courts
to show that sucn laws had been
sustained.
He quoted the food law of Wisconsin
which defines adulteration of foods.
The extent and character of food adul-
iteration was discussed. He particular
lied on the use of artificial coloring,
chemical preservatives or antiseptics
and misbranding or false labelling of
foods. He described the agency pro-
vided by the state for the enforcement
of the dairy and food laws and the
scope of the work He described the
necessity and character of a national
food law
The exhibit of adulterated foods made
by the dairy and food commissioner
was an eye-opener. 1t was unique and
was educational in its character The
exhibit showed not only what confronts
the dairy and food commission in its
efforts to secure purity of dairy pro-
ducts, but what confronts the people of
the state and country as well. 1t was
an ocular exposition of some of the
multitudinous methods of food adulter-
alton.
One feature of the exhibit is to show
the extent of the use of artificial color
ing in the adulteration of foods The
general public has little knowledge as
to the extensive use Ct artificial color
ing in manufactured food products. A
partial list of foods in which artificial
colors are used by some manufacturers
includes wines, jams and jellies, pre-
serves OF all kinds, canned goods, such
as cherries, peaches, straw berries and
tomatoes, candies, sausages, catsup,
tavorlng extracts, syrups for soda
fountains, Vinegars, marmaladeS, etc.
When the immense amount of these
foods consumed in American dietaries
is considered, the question of artificial
coloring of foods assumes startling sig
nihcance
This cloth was colored with a coal
tar dye, obtained from pint bottle of
adulterated scatsup'' is the label on
piece of cloth of bright pink color, one
yard long and half a yard wide. A
piece of cloth ane yard square of
bright cherry color bears the following
label: 'Colored with the coal tar
dye obtained from one bottle of wild
cherry SQUASH" Another bears the
LABEL "Colored with coal tar dye OBJ
tanned from pint jar of adulterated
jelly" "Colored with coal tar dye, OBJ
tanned from half-plnt of tomato cat
sup" is the label upon piece of cloth
one yard long and half yard wide, of
an orange color. These cloths were
originally white. Numerous cloths of
manyhues and colors, pink, orange,
green, yellow, lavender, of various
shades aud tints, are exhibited as hav-
ing been dyed with the artificial colors
obtained from some of the varieties of
foods mentioned in this article
An exhibit is made of preservatives
sold and used in embalming meats in
violation of the laws of the state, and
of numerous other authorizations which |
the commission is endeaVoring to pre-
vent from being practiced upon unsuS-
pecting consumers.
These preservatives are generally
composed of sulphites or of boric acid
or borax and of coal tar dye. Their
object and effect is to make old stale
meat appear fresh. The great danger
in their use aside from their intrinsic
deleterious character is that they fire.
quently cover up signs of decay while
not actually preventing decomposition
These preservatives are put upon the
market under such coined names as
Freeze-em, Preservaline, Iceine, Liver
Sausage Color, Blood Color.
The exhibit shows that in many cases
the labels as a guarantee of purity, are
either entirely false or are misleading.
These samples were taken from the
Wisconsin markets.
Lemon extracts containing wood al
cohol" is the placard over a group of
bottles labeled lemon extract. Lemon
extracts containing no oil of lemon"
appears over group of bottles of So
called lemon extract. Over another
group of such bottles is the placard
"lemon extracts deficient in lemon oil"
"Adulterated vanilla extracts" appears
over still another group of bottles.
"Catsups artifcially colored and pre-
served with benzoate of soda" is the
placard appearing over a group of bot
ties containing catsup.
Samples of some of the unclean
practices against which the dairy and
food commission is waging war and is
eliminating from the dairy business" is
the laconic statement appearing over
a group of articles in that exhibit.
The above label appears over group
of absorbent cotton strainers which
show an amazing amount of filth and
are accompanied with explanations like
the following 100 gallons of milk as
delivered at a creamery, supposed to
have been previously strained on the
farm were passed through this absorb
ent cotton. Observe the unclean con-
dition of the absorbent cotton" "Con-
dition of absorbent cotton after 5000
pounds of milk as delivered at cream
cry. passed through it," ''Six eight gal
lon cans of milk as delivered to Swiss
4 4 Il IL. L. L