The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1914-06-25
BY THE FOOD AND
DRUG DEPARTMENT
THE SANITARY FOOD LAW
Some Interesting Facts by Lucius
P. Brown, State Food and
Drug Commissioner.

In former chat we have given
some bearings of the Tennessee SAM
tarv food law, chapter 473 of the acts
of 1909. 1t will be interesting to us
to consider it a little more at length
II must be borne in mind again that
this law refers to every kind of food
handling establishment, no matter
how big and no matter how small.
The first section provides that every
building used for the handling of
foods in any way, that is to say, for
the sale, manufacture, packing, stor-
age, or distribution, shall. be proper
ly lighted, drained. plumbed and ven
tilated; it must be conducted with
strict regard to the influence of the
condition upon the health of the oper-
atives, employees, clerks or other per-
sons employed therein and the purity
and wholesomeness of the food pro-
duced, and for the purposes of the
act, the term food" as used herein,
shall include all articles used for
food, drink, confectionery or condl-
ment. whether simple, mixed or COM
pound, and all substances or ingredl-
ents used in the preparation there
of" This section bears particularly
on such places as bakeries, which
have often been put under ground or
halfway under ground, and from the
nature of the business try to main
tain an equable temperature. Such
places in the summer are regular
"Black-holes of Calcutta" and their
condition would explain the we'll
known susceptibility to certain dis
eases among the workers in them. 1t
is the endeavor of the food and drugs
department of the state to get every
bakery in the state above ground,
thoroughly lighted and ventilated, and
we have made much progress since
the passage of the law to that end.
Bottling establishments are often To-
Gated in the cellar; these will be ele-
waited as they are discovered, and as
time goes on. The goods which
bother handles are particularly sus-
ceptible to decay and to the influen-
ces of the lack of sanitary conditions
induced by absence of sunlight and
free circulation of air which two
things are natures greatest disinfec-
tants. Besides this it is very difficult
to keep such places clean, and even
while this is being written sample
of lemon soda from a we'll known
bother in Nashville was brought in
full of insect remains. This gentle
man will he demonstrated with very
strongly, if necessary, by means of
prosecution.
Slaughter houses may be properly
ventilated but this is not often the
case. Diaries, especially the cellar
kind. which are so prevalent among
small dairymen in the state, are US
ually improperly ventilated. Where
the dairy supply of city is under
municipal supervision thes have been
pretty well abandoned. But the state
food and drugs department is under
taking to elevate this milk also.
A Few Words About Coffee.
The history of coffee is interesting.
1t appears to have first been discov-
cred in Africa, and it's name is var
iously attributed to that of the Abys-
sinian province of Caffa and to the
Arabian word K'hawah. It appears
to have been used by the Philippians
of northern Africa from time imme-
mortal as a beverage. About the fif
teenth century it appears to have
gone into Arabia and those ancient
traders, the Arabians, carried it to
Persia, Syria, and finally to Europe.
In the middle of the seventeenth CEN
fury it got into London, Paris and 9th
or European eenters-and coffee
houses in London were important not
only in point of number but because
of becoming the resort for the fash
ionable, literary and political classes.
About the end of the seventeenth
century its growth was begun in the
French West Indian colony of Mar
Unique, and then in the other West
Indies. 1t went into India about
1900, later into Ceylon, from Java,
and about 1740 into the Philippines.
About the same time the first coffee
was planted in Brazil, and that coun-
try being particularly adapted be-
cause of its climate, has now become
by far the greatest coffee producing
region. The three greatest consum-
ing countries at this time are the