Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-05-08
BY DIR n. w. WILEY.

Most Effective Remedy Tor the EVIL.
BY DR.. H w. WILEY.
| (Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, United
States Department of Agriculture)
| Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles).
The most popular idea of food adul-
teration is a manipulation of food
products In such a way as to make
them injurious to health. 1t cannot
i be denied that the ultimate effect of
| many forms of food adulteration is
harmful and that the immediate oh
| ject OF the food adulterer is pecuniary
gain.
In general, food adulteration may
be defined in the following terms:
/. The abstraction of any valuable
constituent Of the food or its replace
ment by less valuable constituent as,
for instance, by the partial abstraction
Of the cream from milk or the addi-
ton Of water thereto.
2. The substitution of an article for
another one which resembles it, as, for
instance, substituting oleomargarine
for butter.
8. When food product is made by
artificial means to appear better than
it really is. either by coloring, polish
ing or manipulating In any way. This
form Of adulteration Is illustrated BY
a the artificial coloring of peas or
beans or of butter or milk.
n 4. A food product Is deemed to be
adulterated when 1t is treated with q
chemical preservative for the purpose
of preventing It from decay, rs Is IL
Illustrated by the use Of salicylic acid
: in beer or wine, of boric acid in meat
or butter, Of benzoic acid Ia pre-
/ served vegetables or fruits.
ii s. A food product is deemed to be
adulterated when it bears false Ia
bel, IN fact or by implication or omis
sion, either as respects its origin OF
composition. This is illustrated by
the common custom of misbrandine
!, wines, selling Brazil coffee as "Mochs
e and Java" and. as in recent case, Ia
e beling foreign olive oil as being
O made of the finest selected California
+ olives"
= Under the above heads may b.
grouped all the various forms of adul
terated foods which have been placed
upon the markets.
In regard to the kinds of food!
!, which have been extensively sophisti
t 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 moro common
y the COW only partially, leaving tn
y greater portion of the cream in thu
, udder. The part first obtained is solo
as whole milk and the remaining por
ton serves as cream.
= The most common adulteration o.
butter is the use of artificial colorine
L matters. Formerly only vegetable col
t ors such as anpatto were employed
I'll but in late years the development o.
. 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
O has the sin Of butter coloring beer
e pushed to an almost unlimited extent
l. and it is difficult to find upon our mar
2, kets uncolored butter, even in June.
al Cheese Is not only artificially col
; ored, but sometimes the milk fat is re
moved and fat Of another kind sub
:, stituted. The product is known al
filled cheese"
= Honey is probably as extensivel!
y adulterated as any other common foot
product. Glucose made from India1
corn starch, and resembling honey il
it's physical characteristics is the mos
common adulterant. Sugar, which ha
!. been treated with an acid to make i
u resemble honey, more closely is alst
u at times used, or mixtures Of the two
s. One method Of adulteration is to place
J. small part Of genuine honey in tn
honeycomb in Jar and fill the ia
~ with glucose or a mixture Of glucos
:, and the sugar mentioned above.
The condiments, pepper. salt AM
spices of all kinds have been made tn
II subject Of debasement to large es
n tent. The ground condiments ar
IT mixed with inert matter in order t
increase weight and diminish activity
toll The manufacture of "fillers" resem
N bling the ground spices in color an
texture is largely praetiesd.
The mixing of sand with sugar Is,
r. believe, aeyer, or rarely, practiced Il
= this country, Sugar is probably to
~ cheap to warrant it, some varieties Q
: fine white sea sand being Wertn q
most as much as the sugar itself.
-. Beverages are perhaps as common
ly adulterated or initiated as the soil
re foods, though to the credit of Anne
p. lean beers, it may be said that they al
tie for the most part pure. Distille
e, liquors ars initiated in many forms, s
at that it As difficult now to know in pu
mr. chasing bottle Of whisky whether
IA is the real article or not.
a.
Food adulteration comes to us con
70 mended by centuries OF practice,
70. was not until modern times, howeve
that it assumed a commercial In
portance which has tainted in man
ng respects national and internation'
ss- commerce.
n We have fostered taste tor II
le- fruits of every season and ever