Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-05

necessary to adulterate big. thick
porterhouse steak with enough fat
around the edges to make II broil nicely
or a rich juicy cut Of roast beef buf |
the food jugglers seem to have acquired /
the habit of adulteration to- such an
extent that they are unable to leave
alone these choicest vands of the epi-
cure.
Makes Meat Red
Sulphldes give beef rich. red an
pearance, therefore the butcher nn,,et
cover his beef with sulphide OF soda or
lime. That is, some of them do.
win the following recipe the house,
WlIe can make her own spices. To five |
parts OF walnut shells add two narts /
olive stones and three parts sawdust |
Grind coarsely and add trace of |
haVorlng. The city chemist finds this
to be favorite formula with most
makers of the cheap variety of spices |
although some use more sawdust |
whether the meat from the olive has
peen chewed off the stones by a con-
sumptiVe and the stone thrown in the |
garbage can makes no difference to !
the spice maker, although most of |
them secure their stones from the
plants where olive oil Is made. This
does not apply to the better grades |
OF spices, with which the city chemist |
mas no quarrel, but the purchaser can
usually tell If he is getting real spices
or ground walnut shells and sawdust |
by the price he has to pay.
Water In Butter
Water has always been used as an |
adulteration for liquids, but It is only |
recently that the Ingenious food man |
ipulator has learned that water can |
be effectively used in lowering the |
quality of solids This is especially |
true Of butter
II have been much surprised lately
to note how water is being used in but |
ter" said City Chemist Miller. "By
working 1t well into the butter and
adding a little casein butter makers
are able to get about 20 per cent more
water into the butter than really be- |
longs there. This robs the butter of
its fats and greatly reduces it's keep
ing qualities"
Mr.. Miller found one grade of but
ter last week that had been made with
out so much as being introduced to a |
churn. This was put on the market |
as cooking butter and sold at low |
price. 1t was made of cream and water |
and held firm by gelatine. After being |
exposed to the air for a few hours It |
spoiled.
Maple Syrup
More crimes are committed in the |
name of maple syrup than probably |
anything else that goes into the hu-
man stomach. Mr.. Miller ventures the |
guess that one out of fifty of the |
syrups sold on the market as pure !
maple" are really maple. Glucose and |
cane sugar form basis for nearly all ,
these syrups.
They are favored with boiled corn |
cobs, tincture of hickory bark and |
hundreds of other things that when |
chemically treated appear to be about |
a forty second cousin to the real
article.
"Adulteration of foods is profit maxi
ing gone to seed" said Mr. Miller !
zone man makes a success in some !
special endeavor and competition
springs up. His competitors must |
cheaper the cost of their wares in
order to get the trade away from the
original maker, and to cheaper the
cost the quality must be sacrificed
Thus it goes on in an endless chain.
The Remedy
California is a sort of dumping
ground for adulterated foods. Other
states have operative pure food laws
and foodstuffs that do not comply with
these laws cannot be sold. We have
pure food law on our statute books,
but it is in such shape that we can
not prosecute under it.
1--WE have city ordinances that we
can use to prevent the sale of foods
dangerous to health, but if food is
not dangerous it may be sold with i'm I
punity, however much of a fraud 1t
may be.
II understand that City Chemist
Gibbs of San Francisco, acting UNDER
the advice and direction of the Mer
chants association in that city, is
drawing up a pure food bill to be sub
mitted to the legislature this year that
will enable us to get at these fraudu-
lent foods.
"The action of the national congress
in this regard has given an impetus
to pure food bills all over the country,
and I feel sure that before the state
legislature adjourns we will have
law that will be worth something"
--ee0-f