Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1908-02-13
Operation of the
Pure Food Law.
Food Commissioner Johnson. is Put
ting Forth Efforts to Prevent Adult
teration and Short Weights.

fines paid by meat dealers for
violations of he Pure Food Law
in the adulteration of hamburger
steak and sausage. In every
packing house or butcher shop
there is every day more or less
old and unfit meat that ought to
be thrown away. Tc save this
meat from waste by making it
into hamburger or sausage and
to brighten its color, deodorize
and disguise its real character is
one of the problems with every
INSCRIPTIONS meat dealer. Meat
preServatives under various
names, all containing sulphites
to greater or less extent, are on
the market and it is the business
of the vendors of these unwhole-
some preservatives to urge the
sale of them and the use of them
upon the butchers and meat
! dealers.
The INSCRIPTIONS dealer read
lily buys these preservatives re-
CARELESS of their injurious effects
upon his sausage and hamburger
steak, because there is profit
to him, not only because he can
save and sell meat that otherwise
would be thrown away at the end
of each days business, but he
| has opportunity, especially in
the large cities, to buy meat that
is practically spoiled, at a very
low figure, and the temptation to
use the preservaties is more than
he can resist.
Chicago is the headquarters for
the manufacture of these pre-
servatives and Omaha is the
point from which they are dis
tributed throughout Nebraska.
The sale of this stuff under var
ious names is carried on more or
less on the sly. So, also, the use
of it is a secret in the butcher
shop. The butcher knows very
we'll the real character of the
preservative. He knows that
anything that preserves the
meat except ice is more or less
harmful to the person who eats
meat. 1t is the business of these
unnatural preservatives to pre-
vent the disintegration of the
meat and this business Of the pre-
servative is in direct opposition
to the gastric juice and the sal
iva, for their function is to di-
gest and to seperate the meat
when it gets into the stomach,
to dissolve it as soon as possible
so that each part of the body
may take up and use the partic-
ular element that it requires. 1t
is the business of the gastric
Juice to disintegrate and dissolve.
1t is the business of these sui
phites, these preservatives, to
hold the meat in its natural
state. AS soon as the preserava-
tive gets down into the stomach
of child along with the meat
there commences a struggle be-
tween these two opposite forces,
the one trying to dissolve the
food and the other trying to pre-
vent it. The preservatlves him
der digestion and the stomach is
overworked and ultimately SER
iously injured in the extra effort
required to Counteract the in
fluence of these preservatives.
The kidneys also are overworked
in the necessity to throw off and
eliminate from the body the sui
phdr that gets into the stomach
as part of the preservatives.
1t is part of the business OF
the Pure Food Law to stop the
use of these meat preservatives
in this state. Food Commits
sioner Johnson has been con-
stantly importuned by the manu-
facturers and vendors of these
preservatives to allow their use
in Nebraska on the theory that
there will always be more or less
old and unfit meat put into the
hamburger and sausage and that
it is better to have this meat pre-.
served, and that it is less in1ur.
ious for the consumer to eat the
/ preserved meat than the spoiled
meat. 1t is also urged that the
driving out of the use of these
/ preservatives lessons the avail.
able supply and raises the price
Always and always at every
point the Pure Food Law is
threatened with an advance in
, the price. The butchers viii
raise the price of hamhurper anG