The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-10
pEDDLE POISON
ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
CALLED DANGEROUS.
Physicians Attribute Cases Of Ptomaine
Poisoning to STUFF Many New
ark Children Buy.

Inc RAPID increase III tne safe Oh ice
cream sandwiches, ice cream boats,
ice cream pies and h~okey-pokies to
children during the past three weeks
accounts for a large share of the start,
ling addition to the weekly list of re-
ported cases of sickness. No n can
estimate with anything like accuracy
the actual number of cases of danger
Gus Illness in children arising from
this cause.
Three deaths from ptomain poison
ing were reported from New York city
one day last week, and the physician
called in Zach case assigned the aus
of death to ptomain poisoning occa-
stoned by eating ice cream sandwiches,
or pies.
Briefly described, ice cream sand
wiches, pies, boats. etc., are composed
of worked over ice cream sold to re-
tailers at a largely reduced price. 1t
is handed out to the children spread
on thin tcracker-like material for one
cent, and practically every cheap candy
store in the city is selling the stuff
without regard to consequences, N
without a word of warning from the
Board of Health.
That the danger from eating the COM
position Is understood to be great by
some of the dealers, is shown by reason
of the fact that some of them have
voluntarily ceased to handle it.
The best grade Of ice cream used in
these poison-bearing sweets is made
from ice cream which has become soft
and unstable and returned to the
manufacturer. Many of the manufac-
turers dispose of this returned ice
cream to m large concern which is
engaged almost exclusively in its re-
mixing and refreezing. The danger in
this process exists in the readiness of
cream to decompose. When this takes
Iplace the formation of ptomains is
certain.
The effect of ptomain poison when
taken in minute quantity is to cause
pain in abdominal region, often Of q
most violent character, In some cases
1t causes vomiting and syncope or I'M
consciousness. Where the poison exists
in considerable quantity death is al
most certain to follow the absorption
of food containing it.
Ptomain poisoning in many in
stances is almost impossible to detect.
| IL i > III VI ltC adOA6CAOdo CAto
fatal of poisons to the human system,
and is believed to have been the poison
used by the Borgias of Italy in the
series of crimes which mark the an
nails of that country's history.
The cracker-like substance used as pie
covers, boats and the square pieces for
sandwiches, are not crackers at an, nor
do they contain anything in the nature of
bread materials. The substance Is COM
posed of one Of the cheapest forms Of
gelatine and is made of glue, possibly from
the hoofs, bones, horns, ETC., of dead ami
mails. While perhaps not especially deadly
In itself, the material Is made Of u b
stances which unfit it for human food.
In the sale of h~okey-pokey lies even
greater danger than in the sale Of ice
cream sandwiches. This cheaply made
material Is composed of the commonest
materials, put together in the cellars or
living rooms of Italian tenement houses.
The havoring is purely chemical. and the
coloring, thesLord knows what.
The vessels in which the hokey-pokey Is
made are u~nclean, the place where the
stuff is boiled together and then frozen is
vile and full of all kinds of dangerous
bacteria. Use of hokey-pokey even in
limited quantity is almost bound to be
followed with intestinal pains, due en-
tirely to the presence Of poison.
A careful investigation of all these cheap
refrigerations which are sold in endless
quantities in the poorer sections of the
city and to a surprisingly large extent in
the better sections, gives abundant evil
dence that hardly a day passes without
claiming its childish victim;
In some localities ice cream sandwiches,
hokey-pokey and snowballs will be on
sale from push carts standing beside each
other. The SNOWFALL is a round ball of
shaved Ice. compacted into a bali, over
which is poured a highly colored and
favored compound supposed to be a fruit
syrup. They sell for one cent each. The
Ice they are made from is the cheapest
that can be obtained, and the so-called
fruit syrup Is a vile decoction OF chemi-
calls, the use and sale Of which for food
purposes is against the law.