Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-23
HOW TO DETECT IMPURE FOOD
Test Which Can Be Made by the Average
Housekeeper,
BEAUTIFUL LABELS LIABLE TO DECEIVE
Rules for the Discovery of Adulter-
ants I'm Jams, Canned Goods or
Baking POwder-Pre-
servatives I'm MIX.

comprehensive that 1t seems as if the per
son with a healthy appetite has only one
refuge:
He can shut his eyes and say his prayers
and eat and take his chances.
At this stage the publication of some sim
pie tests for detecting food adulteratior
comes as a beacon of promise. Appro'
priately enough, 1t is What to Eat which
offers these tests to a trembling but hungr,
public.
In the first place. a pure food always
bears the name of the manufacturer and
his place of business. The. sdulterated
article often bears no name or address, OF
else hides behind fictitious name or a
fancy title.
For instance. Choice superfine Creamery
Butter"-without the makers name, tool
will prove in nearly every instance 10 be
the renovated article or oleomargarine
The price OF an article is another indica'
ton Of it's purity. Baking powder retailing
at Is cents a pound cannot be a cream OF
tartar powder; nor can a pint of olive oil
retailing for a quarter be the genuine
article.
When milk is skinned or watered It is
Of a thin blush color. To cover this defect
coloring is resorted to. II you are sus-
picious of your milk supply, let a sample
OF Il stand In clear glass, say twelve
hours Then carefully observe the watery
and the creamy layer. II the lower layer
is yellow, artificial coloring matter has
been employed.
Cream low or deficient in butter fat may
also be detected. A little vinegar added to
the heated cream or milk produces in the
curd distinct orange color If an aniline
dye has been used to give the cream APP
parent richness. If caramel or annatto
has been used the curd will have a brown
ish color The curd OF pure cream or milk
should be nearly white.
To detect the use of a preservative keep
the milk in a warm place for forty-eight
hours. II the sample is still sweet at the
end of this time the presence of pre-
sentative is strongly indicated.
Instead Of cream, milk thickened by
gelatine or corn starch is often used in ice
cream. To detect the corn starch add to a
little of the ice cream a few drops OF
tincture OF iodine. A deep blue color is
| instantly developed IL corn starch or -four
is present This test with also show the
presence of corn starch in milk or cream
Butter Authorizations.
To distinguish butter adulteration the fol-
| lowing tests are readily carried out:
| A small portion OF the butter (size of a
! hazelnut) is placed in an ordinary table
| spoon and heated over low flame (alcohol
! lamp. etc., to the boiling point. stirring
| constantly with a toothpick or some similar
article Genuine butter boils quickly and
| produces an abundance of foam; renovated
butter sputters like grease and water when
boiled and produces but little foam: oleo-
margarine acts very much like renovated
butter, boiling with considerable noise
and producing practically no foam The
| characteristic odor of tallow also becomes
evident when the sample In question Is
| oleomargarine.
| very simple test to determine the purity
| Of cream of tartar is as follows: Pour
boiling water over little of the sample
and stir Pure cream of tartar dissolves
| completely, while lime. chalk and -four re-
main in suspension. When cold, the cream
of tartar precipitates again beautiful
crystalline mass. A drop OF tincture OF
odine added to the cooled solution shows
instantly. by the blue color produced, the
presence Of flour or starchy material.
Sugar, salt, baking powder. tartaric acid
etc, should dissolve completely in cold
water. Sediment and other insoluble ma
| terials denote impurities or adulteration
as for example. a cheap grade Of salt
| mixed with starch; an inferior sugar mixed
| with bluing, etc.
| Impurities in Extracts.
Essence or extract of lemon is a solution
of per cent oil OF lemon in alcohol. To
\ dissolve the above amount of oil requires
practically a pure alcohol, which really is
the costly ingredient in an extract OF
lemon. The cheaper extracts contain only
4 a small percentage OF alcohol, but a large
| amount of water In this mixture the oil
will not dissolve, consequently these cheap
extracts contain little or no OIL but merely
/ flavor OF lemon.
To determine the character of the ex-
1 tract: To a wineglassful of water add a
| teaspoonful of the extract in question and
stir Milkiness Immediately results II the
extract contains the proper proportion OF
! oil, for oil and water will not mix; II a
/ perfectly clear solution results no oil OF
only traces are present, thus readily identi-
flying an inferior and cheap extract
| Extract OF vanilla should be an extract
Of vanilla bean and contain the charac-
| terlstic constituents OF the bean, such as
vanillin, resinous matter, oil, gum and
natural color. II is to all OF these princi-
Piles combined that true vanilla owes
its characteristic sweet, delicate, fragrant
odor and taste.
|
are artificial preparations Of artihcially
prepared vanillin and cumarin dissolved in
weak alcohol and properly colored with
caramel or dyes, and do not cost one-tentf
| the price OF the genuine extract
| To determine the character Of the ex-
| tract in a saucer place one or two table
| spoonfuls of the extract and set the dish
| over boiling water In a tea kettle. ALLOW
the extract to evaporate one-hah. ther
add cold water to make up to the origina
| volume. BY this treatment the alcohol hal
been driven on and we have nothing bu
a watery solution In this watery solution
the principles OF true vanilla are insolu
BILE. rendering the residual liquid densel!
cloudy and a dirty brownlsh color.
The artificial extract, containing none o.
the bean constituents. will be perfectly
bright and clear.
Another simple distinction is the addition
OF a little sugar OF lead solution mote tina
this Is POISON 20 the extract in question
The true vanilla extract Immediately give
an abundant yellowish brown precipitation
and a pale yellowish straw colored liquid
Upon an artificial extract the lead solution
has little or no effect. Only slight precl
pitation results and no, or but little, dis
coloration takes place.