Evening star., 1905-10-28
CLERKS WILL TEST IT
Effect Of Cold Storage on
Food Products.
PLANS OF DIR. WILEY
SCIENTIFIC TABLE TO BE CON-
QUOTED BY THE GOVERNMENT.
The Result of the Experiment Will Be
Awaited With Interest by Deal
ers and Consumers.

be mustered into service, with changes in
Its personnel. Experiments to ascertain the
wholesomeness of cold storage food are to
be begun by the Department of Agriculture
in the near future. The undertaking Is
similar in many respects to the extensive
investigation made two years ago of the
effect of chemicals used In the preserva-
ton of foods on the human system. The
work is to be carried on mainly as means
of furnishing data to the various states for
the regulation of legislation pertaining to
the sale of cold storage foods. 1t will prob
ably be a year or more before the task Is
completed, after which its far-reaching re-
suits will be made known.
Owing to the peculiar nature of the ex-
periments. the department is reluctant to
give out information concerning them. In
quiry at the bureau of chemistry, where the
investigation Is to be carried on, brought
forth the statement that no official report
to the public in regard to the undertaking
Will be made until 1t has assumed definite
shape. 1t Is learned, however, that ar
rangements are now being made to begin
the experiments at an early date. The
method of procedure has not been definite
ly chosen, but 1t is said on authority that
volunteers from the working force of the
bureau have already been obtained as sub
5ects upon whom the experiments will be
made.
Guests OF the Government.
This squad will consist of ten or twelve
men, who will subsist for the next year
on a diet of cold storage foods as the
guests of the government. 4he condition of
the health from time to time will be the
keynote of the wholesomeness of the foods.
Since the results of the experiments on
preserved foods became known there has
been inquiry al the department from vari-
GUS sources all the country
whether meats and game kept in cold stor-
age for any length of time constitute a
wholesome food. The previous investigation
disclosed that preServatiVeS contained in
American products would be likely to have
an injurious effect on the health of many
persons. This revelation the means of
spreading considerable alarm throughout
the country, and as it has become matter
OF concern as to whether cold storage prod
ucts would have a similar tendency, the
Department of Agriculture has undertaken
to supply the data by adopting the present
expedient.
DR.. Wiley to Be in Charge.
DR.. Harvey W. Wiley chief of the bureau
OF chemistry, will have charge of the ex-
periments. He will be guided as to the
course of procedure by the developments
which become apparent as the work ad-
vances. One of the first steps will be to
make an examination Of the physical quail
ihcations of the men who will form the
squad. 1t is necessary that each member
o. this body be in excellent health at the
time he becomes a guest at the govern
ment dining table. The object Is to have
as sturdy a lot of volunteers can be
gathered together, as any change IN their
condition may more readily be observed
That the employees Of the bureau have little
fear that the tests will result disastrously
for them is indicated by the fact that there
have been more applications for member
ship to the squad than there are places to
fill.
Everything connected with the undertake
ing will be carried on according to the most
approved usages of science. The meals Will
be cooked scientifically, the service Will be
scientific, the men will eat scientifically,
their digestion will be model of science,
and science will figure in their mode of liV-
ing. The scientific kitchen will be located
in scientific laboratory, adjoining scien-
tific dining room, where the squad will con-
gregate about scientific feasting board at
regular hours each day. Every kind or
food which can be preserved in cold stor-
age will be served Observation-Disclosures
cludng meats, game, fish and eggs, with
view of not only affordng them scten-
tiflc variety in their diet but more particu-
larly to find the scientific effect of each ar
ticle.
"If 1t is found that the diet is injuring
the health of the men the experiments will
be suspended" said a government official
who is acquainted with the project. Illness
on the part of the subjects would be taken
as an indication that the desired results of
the investigation had been obtained. 1t
would show that cold storage products can
not be used as a regular diet without In
tury to health and this Is the very thing
the department desires to prove or disprove.
1t Is impossible under the system In use
for a subject to become permanently dls-
abled as a result of taking part in the ex-
periments.
LAS the project is now In a premature
form" he added, mo definite plan has been
mapped out to carry on the tests An ex.
pertinent of this character leVeiops as ~
goes along. There are any number OF un-
foreseen contingencies which might arise.
and they will have to be proVlded lot as
they become apparent from time 10 tlng.
The probability though, is that the work
will follow much the same lines as the ex-
periments made on personalities.
How far-reaching the results OF the IN
vestigation will be is disclosed py the iacs
this country are the product of cold-storage
warehouses; The methods in vogue at the
various abbatoirs throughout the country
are so arranged that nearly all meats are
the consumers. Certain varieties can De
kept under the refrigerating process TOT
weeks without apparent change IN tnelI
condition. In fact, 1t IS. maintained Una
the quality is improved in this manner as
fresh meat is held not only to be unwhole-
some, but undesirable as well, as regular
food.
Interest in the Experiment.
The refrigerating plants constitute one
of the principal portions of modern alb
hatoir. and 1t will be seen what a stagger-
ing blow to the master packers 1t would
be IL the federal authorities were to place
their stamp of disapproval on cold storage
products. With the various states waiting
to make laws governing the storage OF
foods, there Is no question that an edict
of this kind from the Department of Agri-
culture would have an effect on the legis-
lative bodies. Interest in the experiments,
therefore, will not be confined TO the con-
sumers only, but will be general among
persons engaged in the industry.
1t is not the intention of the department
to confine Its investigation to. products
stored In the big warehouses, but the OBJ
ject is to inquire into the various methods
of refrigerating. One of the systems In
use is to freeze the products in Ice, while
the more general is to store the stuffs in
room where the temperature Is kept below
the freezing point There are also refrig-
Grating railway cars and the coid-storage
vaults maintained by retail dealers. 1t is
proposed to make a test of the foods pre-