The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-10-18

These were allowed to rot further
through four on. FIVE days. Out of this
about two gallons Of catsup were made.
Some of il was preserved with vinegar
and spices, some with benxoate, and
some left unmixed. The odor and taste
| of the last were bad, that with the ben
zoate showed essentially the same con-
ditlon, while with the vinegar and spices
fair grade Of commercial catsup was
secured A worse lot Of raw naateria
could not be imagined, yet the if1feriority
in one lot of product was completely con.
cealed by the use of vinegar and spices.
Benzoate has but little taste and no
odor, and, therefore, It cannot conceal
inferiority."
MueEler'~ FlAp-F1ap.
AS an evidence that individuals may
have more than one point of view,
Food Preservation quotes as follows
from a speech delivered by Mr.. Sebas-
tian Mueller, Vice President OF the III. ].
Heinz Company, firm most active in its
antagonism to preservatives:
Mould and fermentation are FIRE.
quently found by the housewife in the
goods which she herself put up, and
when the home articles are finally taken
into use the mould is removed and the
good part underneath is eaten. When
the home product is found to be fer
mented 1t is boiled over and then used,
but while the housewife may be willing
to remove the mould from her own
goods and boil over the fermented goods
which she herself has made, she Isl not
likely to buy mouldy or fermented goods
from the grocer. When the goods are
made on large scale, although with the
same care and cleanliness, you can read
lily see what will happen when they are
shipped over long distances and trans
ported from one climate to another. III
any mould has formed before the goods
are shipped, the mould will become
mixed with the entire contents of the
package during transit, and if complete
spoilage did not take place on this &C
count, the consumer would be eating
mould, which, in my opinion, is more
Objectionable than to eat the small and
harmless quantity of added preservative
required to prevent its formation.
Again, if goods were slightly fer
mented on the top of the package, the
bacteria of fermentation would become
mixed with the balance during the tram
sit, and the whole package would go up
in fermentation. Now, let us come to
the preservative itself The least OBJ
jectionable one in use to-day seems to
be benzoate of soda. 1t is non-poison-
GUS, and does not accumulate in the
human system"
Mature Uses Preaervative.
| That the cry against proper preserv-
alive has been raised by those interested
from commercial standpoint, and with
the intention of deliberately alarming
non-technical consumers, is apparent,
when the facts as set forth in this vol
tune are considered. On page 10 of
Food Prescription we find the follow
ing clear and concise statement:
Quite early in the history of modern
chemistry it was found that certain mi
nor fruits possessed the quality of keep
ing indefinitely, or, to say the least, OF
Ipostponing the inevitable process of de-
cav for an extended period of time The
inquiring mind naturally set itself to
asking why the cranberry, the buckle
berry, the birch, etc, should possess this
apparent immunity, and in the course OF
time it was discovered that under the
skin of the berries and the bark of the
tree there was contained natural pre-
sentative. To this was given the name
benzoic acid.
There is some doubt as to whom
falls the honor of the discovery, mas
much as such Investigations have usual
| ly been carried on independently by
| several experimenters, each unaware oi