Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-11-23
Unsanitary Practices.


and towns to unsanitary customs. is
seen in new laws and ordinances
forcing dealers to handle food as
though human beings and not
furnaces were to consume it. AS the
public becomes more insistent, those
who prepare foods are forced, one af-
ter another, to observe some degree or
cleanliness and decency about their
factories and shops.
Not long ago we saw (and 1t was
daily occurrence) an uncovered load
of unwrapped loaves of bread hauled
through the dusty streets of a Maine
city. In the same city. in a large
cash, retail store, were long counters
of uncovered pastry, every hour OF
the business day under the dirty
clothing of purchasers who approached
the counters and reached across for
their parcels, or picked up and ex-
amined this cake or that pie, as
though they were Christmas toys.
A slight agitation changed these
conditions, we are told, but still in
that and in other Maine cities are
kept up many customs that are posi-
lively disgusting to people who abhor
nastiness and unsanitary conditions.
We may consider it as established.
says The Journal of the American
Medical Association, that the distri-
button of unwrapped bread offers
manifold possibilities of infection, and
that the use of wrapped bread not
only offers some safeguard against
disease transmission, but entails no
economical disadvantage.
The increasing displacement in this
country of home made bread by the
bakery loaf has been accompanied by
a growing attention to the sanitary
aspects of the baking industry. At
tempts, in large part successful, have
been made to improve the conditions
under which bread is prepared in city
bakeries. 1t is evident, however. that
the conditions Of distribution as well
as of preparation need to be safe
guarded. We have already com
mented on the possible dangers of
bacterial contamination of bread
through handling of typhoid or other
disease carriers. Recent studies have
added to the evidence we surveyed al
that time. In a paper by Jacobs,
LeClerc and Mason of the United
States Department of Agriculture it is
shown that the surface of wrapped
bread purchased from retail markets
IS more nearly free from organisms
than unwrapped bread obtained at the
same time from the same sources;
Bacillus coli was found more than
eight times as frequently in the I'M
wrapped loaves. This result is sub
stantially the same as that obtained
by Katherine Howell on which our
previous discussion of this subject was
based. Curiously enough, these later
writers make no reference to Miss
Howelrs work. With respect to the
effect of wrapping on the palatability
and general quality of bread, the con-
illusions of Jacobs, LeClerc and Mason
are generally favorable. They state
that, while bread as it comes from the
oven has a sterile crust, it may be-
come contaminated with organisms
while cooling in the laboratory and
therefore should be wrapped as soon
as 1t is sufficiently cooled, a period
which they fix at approximately three
hours. In this discussion, however.
these writers do not sufficiently dis
criminate between the sanitary i'm
portance of organisms such as molds
or harmless air bacteria, and definite
pathogenic microbes that may be
smeared on the bread from infected
hands. Protection of the bread from
contact with fingers or mouth spray is
much more essential than protection
from ordinary dust. The fact that
bread which was cooled only one
hour before wrapping retained heat
and moisture enough to favor the
growth of certain organisms" does not
necessarily mean that higher degree
of safety is obtained If wrapping is
delayed for two hours longer, and
the authors would probably not wish
such conclusion to be drawn from
their work. One practical point
brought out in this paper deserves es-
pecial mention, namely, that I'M
wrapped bread becomes stale notice
ably sooner than wrapped bread and
that the gain to the baker by wrap
ping undoubtedly more than balances
the extra cost. OF great economic
tmportance-when we consider bread,
economy is important--is the reduc-
ton in weight Of the wrapped loaf as
compared with the unwrapped. A
conference with a number of bakers
showed that the cost of wrapping is
from to per cent. On the other
hand, the reduction in weight of
wrapped loaves varied from rs to IA
per cent. The consumer can be ex-
pected to bear at least half the cost
OF wrapping, or 3 per cent, but he
should not be compelled to pay all of
it, including profit. similar. but
less comprehensive. study made by
the Research Laboratory of the New
York City Health Department has also
been reported recently, and this also
confirms the results Of Miss Howell,
respecting the bacterial superiority of
wrapped loaves.
What a foke on the Eurorna