The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-27
Adpantdge and Disadpdntdee Of Food In Small Pdckd6es
SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENr By MRS. SIDNEY N. LILLIAN

John Phillips Street, chemist at the Con. necticut Agricultural Experiment station New Haven, Conn, has written for Tht Modern Hospital. a magazine devoted to the best interests of hospital life and social service. an article on the advan. tages and disadvantages of the food sold ir small packages.
 Under the advantages we find: C1eanli- ness, security because of the makers rep utation, notice of adulterations on labels, and convenience in handling by house. keepers. Under disadvantages we have increase in cost misleading containers, etc.
 All kinds of food are enclosed In some kind of package and the retail merchant finds the retail package necessary, as more foodstuffs Is sold in this way than any other. The containers may be of glass. tin, wood. porcelain. stone card board or simply moisture proof para fined paper
 The sale of foods In package form has many advantages. The most obvious of these is the protection from contam- nation by flies, animals and human man. ipulation, and by the dust and dirt of shop and street. In the ideal store this advantage would not be so striking, but in the average shop more or less in- fested by flies, frequented by cats and dogs. tenanted all too often by rats or mice. and served by attendants rarely immediately clean and not always dis- ease-free. a closed food package is of the greatest importance Moreover, this condition in many cases obtains in the home or public institution quite as much as in the retail store.
 A sealed package gives the buyer a req sonable assurance that he gets the food just as 1t left the factory. This Is particularly important in the case of those manufacturers who claim specially clean factories and sanitary methods of packing by clean and healthy operatives.
 The sealed package in great measure protects against substitution on the part of the dealer If the consumer wishes Smiths vinegar, the labeled package pre- vents him from unknowingly receiving Wilson's, Peter's. Johns, or some other just as good" brand. In other words he is given the opportunity of knowing he receives just what he asks for.
 Another important advantage of tho purchase of goods In package form Is shown in the case of foods which might be legally labeled in the large original container. but which are in no sense pure" foods. A barrel of vinegar might
 
 of macaroni Italian style, artificially colored." bag of rice coated with glucose and talc.' or barrel of molasses "contain sulphur dioxide," and yet it Is exceedingly doubtful if, when any of these foods are sold ''loose'' to the con sumer, he will be advised by the dealer of their compound character. Tn these days of rigid food inspection the manu- facturer would scarcely dare to withhold this information from the purchaser of his foods in the form of small packages Under the federal law and under the laws of most of the states. package foods must bear on their label a true state- ment of the net weight or volume oi food they contain.
 Unquestionably, as a rule the sale of food in small packages increases the cost of food to the consumer. Gen erally the consumer pays for the at tractive and somewhat expensive con- tainers, either by an increase of price