Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-02-08
POiSOnS in Food.

Washington, Feb. 4.-Dr. Harvey
W. Wiley, chief Of the chemistry bur-
eau of the department Of agriculture
and the governments pure-food e
pert, gave much interesting testi-
mony concerning the deterioration of
foodstuffs in cold storage before the
house committee on agriculture,
whose hearings on the agricultural
appropriation bill have just been
made public.
Two cold-storage warehouses are at
DR.. Wiley's disposal in Washington
and gave the results he had attained
by experiments, with all sorts of
foodstuffs.
milk begins to deteriorate right
away and 80 does cream" said DR..
Wiley. Eggs also begin to deterio-
rate Immediately. Fruit is improved
and sometimes continues to improve
for three months. Meat improves up
to about six or eight weeks. But
after three months for meat you can
see that it has reached the maximum
and then it begins to go down. l do
not care how hard it is frozen"
DR.. Wiley stated that he is a thoro
believer in cold storage, and believes
that most foods improve when proper
ly kept for a short time, but he said
that the object of his experiments is
to tell the public, and particularly
the cold .storage people, how long
they may safely keep articles of food
in storage. He said that as yet he
has been unable to determine wheth-
er drawn or undrawn poultry keeps
better.
DR.. Wiley was asked many ques-
tions about oysters and said that the
oysters opened and shipped In buckets
should be prevented from entering in
terstate commerce, as they are dead.
Gan oyster is dead an hour after it
is opened" said DR.. Wiley, "and is
not good. 1t loses it's flavor"
In response to inquiries from Rep
resentative Haskins as to the advisa-
bility of freezing oysters to preserve
them for shipment, DR.. Wiley said:
ooh, they ought not to be frozen.
That ruins them, and as soon as they
thaw they are dangerous"
He then urged that oysters should
be shipped alive and in the shell, and
said that the greatest outrage of the
oyster trade is to soak oysters with
fresh water and swell them up, max
ing them look fat.
DR.. Wiley said the oysters sent out
in tin cans are all right, but in fur
Their denunciation of bulk oysters
lshipped in tubs and buckets he said:
"They are either preserved with
lsome preservative or are dangerously
near the ptomaine line, n Of the
two"
GELATINE FROM HIDES.
Gelatin was denounced by DR.. Wi
ley, who said of it:
cit is made out of hides, of the
|scrappings from hides. These hides
go into the tanners yats and these
hides that smell to heaven are treat
ed and trimmed and these trimmings
are used to make gelatin. The mar
inc hospital service found tetanus
germs in gelatin"
DR.. Wiley said the gelatin factories
are the dirtiest in tho world; that the
hides used are treated with alkalt,
which is rubbed into them before
shipment. the hides are scraped and
trimmed and are then put into the
tanners watts and the residue used for
gelatin. He said that this gelatin is
sometimes made in glue factories,
] and that what is not fit for glue is
made into gelatin.
In reply to a question from Repre-
sentative Haugen as to the uses Of
this gelatin, DR.. Wiley said:
ut is used for putting into ice
cream and putting into candies and
making capsules that you take your
medicine in"
He added that there is no objection
to gelatin if properly made, and that
there is plenty of wholesome raw ma
terial to make it of. AS to the pro-
portion of gelatin made from mater
ial containing live germs, DIR. Wiley
said:
"No one wants to run the risk of
getting lockjaw by taking a powder
or a pill or eating ice cream.
Don't forget Becker's cigar store
when you want a first class cigar or a
| he n6Snnpa nine