The Prescott daily news. (Prescott, Ark.) 1907-1941, 1914-04-14
THE LOAF OF BREAD

The widespread propaganda for the
purity of the food and drug products
of this country has resulted in the
necessary attempt to standardize all
articles which enter into these ute
eories. the case of certain familiar
materials like sugar and coffee this
has not involved any formidable diff
culties. The question as to what con-
stitutes mince pie, on the other hand,
has aroused storms of claims and
counterclaims on behalf of the recipes
Of different regions and generations
Like numerous other illustrations
which might be cited, this experience
las served to call attention to the
really great diversity of our food con-
coctions and the pardonable laxness in
the use of current terms that appear
in the American menu. One may well
apply here thep roverb: De gustibus
non disputandum est.
1t might be expected that so com
mon an article OF diet as bread would
exhibit some uniformity of compost
ton. Yet the chemist of the Connec-
ticut Agricultural Experiment Station
reports that two hundred loaves of
lead, representing the product of
seventy-nine Connecticut, one Spring
fe,d Mass ard three New York bak-
ries "ahowed wide variations in all
,heir il Ingredients" For example, the
r~oisturc contact ranged from 27 to
per cent, so that in some instances
the bread contained excessive amounts
of water. The fat present also show
ed wide range. from 0.0S to 4.37 per
cent. These differences are largely
due to the methods of the bakers. In
some cases only flour, yeast and salt
are used, while in others milk, butter
lard. and sugar. either alone or in
combination. are employed. The vari-
tic, in ct rye also duo il rar- q
the fact that in the process of baking
a part of the fat is destroyed. In
some samples the amount of fat found
is much lower than could have re-
suited from the use of any brand of
flour.
\ comparison of the variation in a
five-cent loaf Of bread is interesting
in other directions also. The actual
amount of dray matter per loaf in
the Connecticut samples ranged from
10 to 1877 ounces; the average weight
of the loaf in nine cities ranged from
1919 to 15.Z ounces The cheapness
of the three and four-cent loaves indi-
Gated a real saving, as far as quantity
is concerned, because the decrease in
price was greater than the decrease
in weight. As the price of loaf OF
bread has remained stable at five cents
while the cost of the ingredients has
increased, changes in the real cost of
the nutrients of bread must be sought
in the changes of size or composition
of the loaf According to investiga-
tons made in New Jersey in 1895,
weighed from 1877 to 2l.S ounces, av-
erage 1914 ounces. In 1895 in New
Jersey So per cent of the five-cent
,oaves weighed over Is ounces, and
SO per cent over 10 ounces. while IN
1912 in Connecticut only Z per cent
weighed over l6 ounces, and only 10
per cent over ID ounces. Assuming
similar conditions in these two states,
the average weight of the five-eent
loaf has shrunk since 1895 from l6.4
to IA ounces, or ID per cent. When
all has been said, observes The jour
nal OF the American Medical Associa-
tion the student OF nutrition will
doubtless still remark that bread is
cheap at any price.