Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-29
STANDARDS OF FOOD
THE BASIS UPON WHICH EATA-
BLES SHALL BE JUDGED.
What Shall Constitute Purity, Whole
someness and SoundnessP-Opera
ton Of the Pure Food Law.

Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, in the Independent
| The question of standards OF purity Tor
| food products is one which interests all
classes of our people, The manufacturers
| of food products, first of all, are aHected
by the establishment Of standards, because
the products which they make necessarily
conform thereto. Dealers in food products
are equally interested, since if they dis
! nose of products which are not of stand
| and quality under the name Of standard
| article they are likely to come INTO
| conflict with the local state laws. The
| consumer, most of all, is interested In food
| standards, because if they are the proper
kind they assure him in his foods articles
| of diet which have qualities which nave
been approved by competent authorities.
From the executive POINT of view the
| person who is called upon to execute the
| food law needs perhaps most or all the help
| of standards in order that he may de-
| termine in any given case whether a sam
pie Of food submitted to him for exam I'M
| ination conforms to the provisions ol ING .
| law 1t is sef-evdent that any one calieo
| upon to institute proceedings for the VIOLA
| ton of the food law must have some pasls
| of action This bass, of course, Is 1ur-
| nished by the law itself, but the law can
not possibly go into the minute definitions
| and distinctions of what would constitute
| offenses against its provls!ons Inc IA"
can say that foods shall be pure, Wh9ie-
some. made of sound materials free Of dis
| ease and decay and that they shall nave
! no valuable constituent distracted from
! them nor any inferior constituent aoaeo
| thereto, and that they shall. be free OF oe-
| ceptiye colors and of all substances Of an
| in iutious nature. The opinion Of the eX-
| ecutive officer in respect OF the VOCATION
| of the law should be based upon such reg
| ulations and standards so as to secure
| some uniformity of action throughout the
| area where the law applies. For instance
| II may be assumed that In the execution
of food law 500 officials are act,Vely EN-.
| ployed, each of whom may be indepenoent
| in respect of the judicial circuit TO Whch
his activities are confined. we may as,
| sumo further that the same article OF 1000
| is examined Independently by the 5Oo
| a gents of the law. 1t Is highly important
| that some guide should be PROVIDED LOT
| these agents which would enable them 70
| come to uniform decision. 1t would
seem rather unjust that in the examina-
tion of the same substance go OF these
| agents should deem the law to nave peen
violated and bring an ACTION ga agalnse ene
| culprit, while in the other $50 instances
| no action would be taken. rms, OF
| course, is an extreme case. BUT IN
| point of fact the execution Of the EngIsh
food law during the quarter OK eem ,,a,,y
in which it has been enforced shows many
| instances illustrating the principe ABOVE
| mentioned. For this reason IN England
| there has lately arisen demand Tor the nH-
|
| authorized the board of agriculture to es-
| tablish such standards for dairy products.
| 1t does not need any chain OF reasoning ~
show that if standards be needed lot garry
! nroducts they are also needed for all forms
| of food products The food laws of the va
| rious states and municipalities IN the
| United States often fix standards for the
| guidance of the officials, and theoretically
| it Is undoubtedly principle which re
| mains undsputed that 1t is advisable that
| such standards should be fixed by leglsla-
| tive action. For instance, the Congress OF
| the United States has enacted certain 1000
| standards which in force in the District
| of Columbia. Milk must contain at least
| 35 per cent of fat, cream 20 per cent OF
fat butter not more than II per cent or
| water nor more than 3 per cent of salt.
| Bread shall not contain more than 81 per
cent of moisture nor more than per cent
| of ash, nor less than 6.25 per cent of pro-
| tein.
Maryland Milk.
| The state of Maryland requires by stat
| ute that milk shall not have more than
| S75 per cent Of water, not less than 123
| per cent of milk solids, of which at least
35 per cent shall be butter fat. great
MANY of the states have standards for
| dairy products but very few have any
| thing like complete standards established
| for general food products. There is very
| insistent demand from the food officials OF
| the different states for some uniform stand
| legislatures have not fixed specific stand
| ards in the law. To this end the National
| Association of State Dairy and Food Com
| missOners has for some time had com
mittee on food standards appointed
| for the purpose of recommending uniform
| standards for adoption by the various
| states While no definite conclusions have
| been reached, as a result of these efforts
| great progress has been made toward a
practical unifcation of standards In all
| cases where the laws are silent.
| A great deal has also been done in the
same direction by the Association of Off
| cial Agricultural Chemists, body repre-
J senting the chemists connected with the
| agricultural colleges and experiment sta
tons of the various states and territories,
| and of state and municipal authorities
| charged in any way with the inspection
| and control of fertilizers of food mate
| rails. This is very large and influential
| body of men, representing every part of
| the country, and the action which they ap-
prove has the force and authority of the
| organiza ton. For almost ten years this
association has had a committee actively
| engaged in the study of standards of
purity of food products, and great deal
has been accomplished in that line. In
many cases the action of the Association Of
Official Agricultural Chemists has been APP
proved by the state dairy officials A large
majority of the standards this established
have been at least Professionally accepted
by the state authorities pending further
action on their part and on the part of the
1t may seem rather strange that an at
tempt should be made to fix standard for
a natural product such as milk A mo-
ment's reflection, however, will show the
desirability of such standard The NEST
valuable part of milk for market purposes
is the fat which 1t contains. By partial
| milking product is obtained which has a
low content of butter-fat, and by finishing
the milking a product is obtained which
has very high content of butter-fat. Thus.
in drawing milk from the same animal
two distinct kinds can be secured. 1t is
universally held that milk must be the en-
tire milk of the animal at the time of
milking. If such were not the case the
dairymen could milk two-thirds Of the milk
from each COW and sell as milk, and then
milk the other third and sell cream. To
avoid such condition Of affairs the stand
ard for fat in milk has been fixed by many
state and municipal authorities and by the
national government Again, there are
some varieties of cows, for instance, the
Hostein, which give great quantities of
milk containing small quantities of fat
Often complete milking of the Holstein
COW will give product which contains
less than per cent of fat. If this milk be
allowed to he sold without cfap6o rdi,,t;o,