St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1906-04-21

servation Justifiable, for Long jour-
neys-Dimculties in the Enforce
ment Of Food Laws-Publicity the
Most Effective Remedy for the Evil.
By DIR. H. w. WILEY.
(Chief OF the Bureau Of Chemistry, United
States Department of Agrtculture.)
Copyright. 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles)
The most popular idea Of food adul-
reration is manipulation OF food
products in such q way as to make
them injurious to health. 1t cannot
be denied that the ultimate effect OF
many forms Of food adulteration IS
harmful, and that the immediate OBJ
ject of the food adulterer is pecuniary
gain.
III general, food adulteration may
be defined in the following terms:
1. Tie abstraction of any valuable
constituent of the food or Its replace
ment by a less valuable constituent, as,
for instance, by the, partial abstraction
Of the cream from milk or the adda-
ton OF water thereto.
z. Tie substitution Of an article Tor
another one which resembles 1t, as, Tor
instance, substituting oleomargarine
for butter.
8. When food product Is made by
artificial means to appear better than
1t really is, either by coloring, polish
ing or manipulating in any way. This
form OF adulteration is illustrated by
the artificial coloring of peas or
beans or of butter or milk.
4. A food product is deemed to be
adulterated when it Is treated with
chemical preservative for the purpose
of preventing it from decay, as is II.
Illustrated by the use OF salicyllc acid
in beey or wine, Of boric acid In meat
or butter, of benzoic acid IN pre-
served vegetables OF fruits.
s. A food product is deemed to be
adulterated when 1t bears false Ia
bel, In fact or by implication or omis-
sion, either as respects its origin or
composition. This is illustrated by
the common custom Of misbranding
wines, selling Brazil coffee as Mocha
and Java" and, as in recent case, Ia
being a foreign olive oil as being
made of ..the finest selected California
olives
Under the above heads may be
grouped all the various forms OF adul-
terated foods which have been placed
upen the markets.
In regard to the kinds OF foods
which have been extensively sophisti;
Gated It may be said that there are
few which are exempt.
| Dairy products have been more gen
orally investigated for authorizations
than almost any other kind OF foods
The addition of water to milk is prob
ably not very extensively practiced, but
the abstraction of part of the cream
and selling the residue as whole milk
| Is still in vogue. A more common
method of adulterating milk Is to milk
| the COW only partially, leaving the
greater portion Of the cream In the
adder. The part first obtained is sold
as whole milk and the remaining por
| ton serves as cream.
| The most common adulteration o.
| butter is the use of artificial colortni
matters. Formerly only vegetable col
| ors such as annatto were employed
| but in late years the development o.
the chemistry Of dye stuffs has oneret
to the deft dairyman many beautiful
yellow tints. which are not only cheap
er but more easily mixed with the Ia
than the old-fashioned vegetable col
ors.. In the United States, especially
/ has the sin of butter coloring beer
pushed to an almost unlimited extent
and it is difficult to find upon our mar
Ikets uncolored butter. even in June.
Cheese Is not only artifcially col
ored. but sometimes the milk fat Is re
moved and fat of another kind sub
gtituted. The product Is known 9
"flled cheese.
Honey is probably rs extsnsivel.
adulterated as any other common TOO
product. Glucose made from 1ndial
corn starch, and resembling honey II
its physical characteristics IL the mos
common adulterant. Sugar, which ha
i been treated with IN acid to make
resemble honey, more closely Is ais
at times used, or mixtures Of the two
One method OF adulteration is to plac
| a small part Of genuine honey in tn
honeycomb in jar and I'LL the ia
with glucose or a mixture Of glucos
and the sugar mentioned above.
Tho condiments, pepper, salt an
spices Of all kinds have been made tn
subject Of debasement to q large e.
tent. The ground condiments ar
mixed with inert matter In order
| increase weight and diminish activit!
The manufacture Of oilers resem
bling the ground spices in color an
4 texture is largely practiced.
The mixing Of sand with sugar Is,
believe, never, or rarely, practiced !
this country. Sugar Is probably to
cheap to warrant it, some varieties
fine white sea sand being worth q
most as much as the sugar itself.
i Beverages are perhaps as common
" adulterated or initiated as the soil
. foods, though to the credit of Anne
lean beers. it may be said that they al
for the most part pure. Distflle
} liquors are Initiated In many forms. {
! that 1t is difficult now to know In pu
chasing bottle Of whisky whether
Is the real article or net.
l 70 0nn
mended by centuries Of practice;
was not until modern times, howeve
that 1t assumed commercial IN
portance which has tainted 10 mar
. resnecta national and internati0n