Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-10
DROPPED INTO VERSE
GOVERNMENT CHEMIST WILEY
TALKED ON DYE IN FOOD.

at do not care to make dye shop of
my intestinal canal" said Dr. H. w. Wiley,
chief of the bureau of chemistry United
States Department of Agriculture, yesterday
afternoon when he was addressing the stu
dents at the Woman's College in Baltimore
on "Foods-Their Adulteration and Mis-
branding
DR.. Wiley was referring to the coloring
of Jams, teilies, marmalades and preserves
He said in part:
Every fruit should be true to its name.
What you do get 1t is hard to know; al
most any old thing that looks like fruit
Manufacturers buy up rotten apples. old
cores and make jelly: That is the basis
for over two dozen kinds of preserves and
iellies; the only difference Is in the color1ng
and the favoring In the case of straw
berry jam they put in a little hayseed.
Even imported goods are no guarantee OF
excellence. Our apple substance rs sen.
over there, and the EhgliSh aou siucose anu
coloring matter.
In Dr. Wileys opinion, butter coloring is
the greatest of all ofenses, and Is the most
universal White butter comes from lack
of proper attention in the dairy. If people
Of this country would demand uncolored
butter they would get 1t, he said.
There are some vegetable colorings that
are harmless in themselves, and there are
some that are positively injurious to health
In considering the latter the use Of sulphate
Of conner for coloring vegetables is good
example. There is not an American manu-
tice in Europe. After the 10th of this
Month all foods which contain this color
ing must be labeled.
Adulteration Of Food.
In speaking of adulteration DR.. Wiley
said:
"No one adulterates food for the purpose
of inturfng health-the adulteration may in
lure health incidentally-but the sole pur-
nose ;s for financial gain, nothing else. Tho
adulteration Of food may take severeal
forms One of the most common is the use
of antiseptics to keep foods from decay.
But there are so many means OF preserving
foods that there is no excuse for ant1sep-
tics, for example. the drying OF foods, the
sterilizing of foods and the use of cold
storage" -,
food tightly to preserve it. He said it makes
M difference whether air Is in the can or
not The germs which the air carries cause
the fruit to decay. The only time that the
use of antiseptics is tustifabie Is In cases
of extremity, as when people go on a great
distance 1t Is better to eat foods which
contain salicyjc acid than starve. Another
form of adulteration is the withdrawing Of
some substance, as cream from milk, and
selling the remains as whole milk.
Still anothergvcry common form Of adul-
teration. he said, is selling under the name
of q genuine article something that IS not
the article. An illustration Of this is the
selling of oleomargarine for butter. DIR.
Wiley does not find any fault with oleomar-
garine; in fact thinks 1t is better than but
ter, but it is not right to deceive the con-
sumner. DR.. Wiley Is not an advocate of the
oleomargarine law, however, because he
thinks it is unjust, inasmuch as the man
who makes butter has legal right to color
it, but the man who makes oleomargarine
Is denied that right. DR.. Wiley also spoke
of the practice of selling glucose for honey
and the wrong labelling or misbranding of
food.
In conclusion DR.. Wiley said, 1--WE want
people to know what they eat That is
the whole propaganda of pure food~this
Is food that Is pure to it's name" He
then recited the following poem of his own
composition, which was decidedly well re-
ceived by his listeners: