The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-22
REPORT ON FOOD
 AND DRUG PRODUCTS
AduIterated Foods Not Common But
 9Iisbranding Very Noticeable

has just been issued by the Connec-
 ticut Agricultural Station at New
 Haven, being the sixteenth in the ser
 ies The station is authorized to get
 samples of foods and drugs at it's
 discretion, test them and report for
 the general information of the public.
 These reports of the facts continued
 from year to year. has been more eff
 fective than any other thing in check ing fraud in the manufacture and sale of food products. The good old times are past when over per cent of the ground coffee sold in the state was adulterated when a baking powder containing 25 per cent of tale was OF the shelves of many grocers unconsci- ous of the fraud, when Zanzibar car bong made by the natives of that | heather land and shipped to the Uni ted States to give hams a delectable flavor and color (aS explained in ad-
 vertising circulars) was found to con- tain about 75 per cent of salt with some Bismarck brown (an aniline dye) and evidently the work of heather in the e-miSsionary field The later reports, because of the disappearance from Connecticut Of most of these picturesque frauds, are perhaps less lively reading than the early ones. Scandalously adulterated foods are not at all common in the state and inferior mixtures are gen- orally so labelled that the careful
 reader of the label may know what Misbranding is very common, how ever, in the way of making exaggerat- ed claims of purity and strength which the Stations analyses at once disprove. Thus, we read on the label
 Most of the fat has been eliminiat-
 ed,' and the Stations comment re.
 garding the goods-'It has not been
 eliminated as with one exception it contains more fat than any other sam pie examined.'' "A nutritive and per-
 fectly. soluble food. Having the oil
 removed 1t becomes at once a health | full aliment,'' etc, says the label. Tt | is not perfectly soluble,' as S1 per cent. is insoluble; only a little over | half of the oil is removed" says the | Station.
 Of the 124 samples of milk bought | of grocers by the Station in July and | August last, the larger number be- ing sold in bottles. one sample was | skinned, twelve were watered, and
 one contained the preservative for malin.
 Of the 290 samples tested for the | dairy and food commissioner. most of i them probably from places where l adulteration was suspected, were l skinned, S7 were watered, and both
 skinned and watered.
 I During last summer, following, an
 agita tion regarding the summer | drinks" 46 samples were analysed for | the dairy and food commissioner. Of | these. 10 contained benzoic acid Ca | preservative); of this number also had an uppermitted coal-tar dye and | | ples were sweetened with saccharin, 1 the use of which in food products is | forbidden by federal ruling. Of this | number also had artificial flavor. l 3 artificial flavor and unpermitted l color, and 1 unpermitted color. Ten | others contained either artificial fla>
 vor or unpermitted color or both. Of 27 samples of "cider vinegar | tested for the dairy and food commits 1 sioner, only were genuine The rest 1 were variously doctored mixtures con- | taining distilled vinegar, boiled cider, | apple waste, or dried apples The tests of drugs indicate generally
 a closer approach to the standard l strength than has been found in past
 years. As might be expected, pepsin | preparations differ widely in eff. | cheney. all but two of the twenty ex- | amined being under standard strength l and three of them practically worth | less.
 | The samples of extract of witch haz- l el are well up to the prescribed stand | ard. The United States dispensatory | says of this time-honored family rem | edy that it was introduced into the | Pharmacopoela because of the uni- versally recognized need in American | families for an embrocation which ap- | peals to the psychic power of faith.'' | It Is practically a mixture of water | and alcohol and is chiefly effacious | when mixed with faith and accompa- | nied with much rubbing.
 l This report, which contains much of | interest to housekeepers and to the | general public, is sent free to citizens l of the state on application to the Con- | necticut Agricultural Exeriment Sta | ton.
 | Part III of the station report, which l is being distributed with the part | above referred to, concerns the com | position of commercial feeds and is of l especial interest and value to dairy l men.