The Bottineau courant., 1907-12-20
POISON IN FOOD.
Cold Storage Evils and Dangers in
Gelatin. Exposed by Food Expert.

Cold Storage Evils and Dangers in
Gelatin. Exposed by Food Expert.
DIR. Harvey w. Wiley, chief
of the chemistry bureau of the
department of agriculture and
the governments pure food
expert, gave much interesting
testimony concerning the de-
terioration of foodstuffs in cold
storage before the house COM
mittee on agriculture la S
winter.
Two cold-storage warehouses
are at DR.. Wiley's disposal in
Washington and he gave the
results he had attained by ex-
periments with all sorts of
foodstuffs.
milk begins to deteriorate
right away and so does cream,'
said DR., Wiley, Eggs also
begin to deteriorate Immediate
ly. Fruit is improved and
sometimes continues to inn
prove 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 maxi
1nurd and then it begins to
go down. l do not care how
hard it is frozen"
DR.. Wiley stated that he is
a thorough believer in cold
storage, and believes that most
foods improve when properly
kept for short time, but he
said that that the object of his
Experiments is to tell the public
and particularly the cold stor-
age people, how long they may
Csafely keep articles of food in
(storage. He said that as yet
he has been unable to deter
mine whether drawn or I'M
drawn poultry keeps better.
| DR.. Wiley was asked many
questions about oysters an d
said that the oysters opened
and shipped in buckets should
be prevented from enterin g
interstate commerce, as they
are dead.
An 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
Representative Haskins as to
the advisability of freezing
oysters to preserve them for
shipment, DIR. Wileys said:
'"Oh, 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
making them fat.
Dr. Wiley said the oysters
sent out in tin cans are all
! right, but in further denuncia-
/ tion of bulk oysters shipped in
4 tAhs and buckets he said:
Ihey are either preserved
with some preservative or are
dangerously near the ptomaine
line, one of the two."
Gelatin was denounced by
DIR. Wiley, who said of it:
1t is made. out of hides.
These hides go into the tanners,
watts and the hides that smell
to heaven are treated and
trimmed and these trimmings
are used to make gelatin. The
marine hospital service found
tetanus germs in gelatin"
DR.. Wiley said the gelatin
factories are the dirtiest in the
world; that the hides used are
treated with alkali, which is
rubbed into them before treat
ment. The hides are scraped
and trimmed and are then put
into the tanners vats and the
residue used for gelatin. He
said that this gelatin is some
times made in glue factories,
and that what is not fit for
glue is made into gelatin. !,
In reply to a question from
Representative Haugen as to
the ashes of this gelatin, DIR.
Wiley said:
It is used for putting into
ice cream and putting into