The Prescott daily news., 1914-11-21
uNWRAPPED BREAD

The lncreaSllS uioPi'. M
 atrv of homemade bread by the
 ,s.orv has been accompanied by
 -~ou,ne attention to the sanity as-
 saots of the baking industry. At
 4or,nts. in large part successful, have haon made to improve the conditions ,rdpr which bread is prepared in city
 hotories. It is evident, however, that tho conditions of distribution as well
 as of preparation need to be safe
 marded We have already comment
 ed m the possible dangers of bacter-
 ;. contamination of bread through
 handling by typhoid or other disease carriers. Recent studies have added to the evidence we surveyed at that time In a paper by Jacobs, LeClerc and Mason of the United States De- nartment of Agriculture it is shown that the surface of wrapped bread n,rchased from retail markets is more nearly free from organisms than unwrapped bread obtained at tbe s?me time from the same sources; B,cillus coli was found more than eirht times as frequently in the un- ed 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 lat writ make no reference to Ms Howell's work. With respect to the effect of wrapping on the pal stability and general quality of bread the conclusions of Jacobs, LeClerc and Mason are generally favorable. They state that, while bread as it comes from the owns has sterile crust, it may become contaminated with or ganisms while cooling in the labora- tory and therefore should be wrapped as soon as it is sufficiently cooled, a period which they fix at approximate ly three hours. In their discussion. however, these writers do not suffi- ciently discriminate between the san itary importance of organisms such as mold 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 cool ed only one hour before wrapping retained heat and moisture enough to favor the growth of certain organ lsms" does not necessarily mean that higher degree of safety is obtain ed II wrapping is delayed for two hours longer, and the authors would probably not wish such a conclusion to be drawn from their work. One practical point brought out in this paper deserves especial mention, namely, that unwrapped bread be- comes stale noticeably sooner than wrapped bread and that the gain to the baker by wrapping undoubtedly more than balances the extra cost. oi great economic mportance--when we consider bread, economy is inn portant-is the reduction in weight of the wrapped loaf as compared with 'he unwrapped. A conference with a number of bakers showed that the cost Of wrapping is from to per cent On the other hand, the reduc- uon In weight of wrapped loaves Varled from 7.5 to IA per cent. The customer can be expected to bear at ,eaSt half of the cost of wrapping, or per cent, but he should not be com peiied to pay all of it, including a pro- n'' similar, but less comprehen- sNe' study made by the Research La p,ofatory of the New York City health Department has also been re- porteo recently, and this also con- nfms the result of Miss Howell res pec'ihg the bacterial superiority of wrapped loaves. We may consider it as established, says The Journal of the ,'"erlcan n Medical Association, that % ae distrlbution of unwrapped bread ."ers manifold possibilities of infec- uon' and that the use of wrapped olead not only offers some safeguard tsn sa'fst disease transmission, but en-