Grand Forks daily herald., 1915-11-16
CANNED FOOD GOOD FOR Us.
DR.. Harry e. Barnard, Food Commits
sioner of Indiana, in the Philadel-
phia North American.

1t is a wonderful record the Gamer
has established. The magnitude of
his work is almost beyond our COM
prehension.
Last year the Gamer packed of
milk, the ideal food, 600,0 100000 cans;
35,000,000 cans; of peas, 212,0O0,0O
cans Alaska. once looked upon as a
vast iceberg worth nothing save to the
fur hunters, packed 10O,0O0,00O cans
of salmon, and the size Of the Puget
sound pack has not yet been estimat-
ed. More than 200,000,000 cans Of
soups, fully prepared for the table,
save for heating, and as many cans Of
pork and beans rolled out in endless
procession from the canneries.
To this total Of few staple articles
must be added innumerable sorts of
fruits, vegetables, fish, meats and such
condiments as the delectable salad
dressings, sauces and universally used
catsups, fully 300,00O,O00 more, swell
ing the grand total of canned goods
produced in a single year to almost
1900, 100000 tins. But we are a big
country, and we have learned that
canned goods are not only pleasant to
taste, but that they are nutritious and
cheap as we'll. So what is 100000
cans of tomatoes a day to our big ia
mily Of 100000, ,OOO-one can to every
100 hungry consumers?
Sometimes Gamers talk as If trey
feared overproduction. Overproduc-
ton is not possible until they are
packing many times the number Of
cans they are now producing. Under
consumption Is what embarrasses the
occasional packer, who, taking ac-
count of his stock on the first Of the
year, finds q large part of his sum-
mer's output still unsold.
People look askance at things they
do not understand. The cold storage
industry, one of the best and most
economical means for conserving the
food supply, is still thought by many
to be a means of making good food
bad rather than practice which con-
serves surplus food in good condition
until it Is needed. In q similar way
canned foods gain no entry into thou
sands Of kitchens simply because in
her ignorance the housewife cannot
forget the vicious and wholly untrue
stories Of illness caused by eating food
put up in tin. AS matter of fact,
there is no case on record Of illness
being produced by the eating of food
taken from a sound tin packing. The
danger from eating canned foods is in
| f1nitely less than that one has to face
when his dietary is limited to social
ed fresh foods.
DR.. Barnard not only offers
valuable testimony as to the eco
nomics of canned food, but he
sets at naught number Of pre-
conceptions that had not been
seriously denied by the Gamers
themselves. For instance, he
challenges the soundness Of the
old belief that canned goods
should be removed from the can
Immediately upon opening. He
says:
Canned goods are not poisonous,
and ptomaine poisoning Is never the
result of eating them, but rather the
fresh foods kept in the insAnitary re-
frigerator-to milk, cheese, ice cream
and meat salads. AS matter OF fact.
most canned vegetables do not con-
tain the elements necessary to the
growth Of the organisms that cause
ptomaine poisons, nor does contact
with the tin ever produce poisons.
Wide publicity has recently been
given story telling of the poisoning
Of an entire family by food prepared
in q rusty tin pail. Such . story is
absurd, at least 50 far as the attempt
to blame the container is concerned.
There is nothing In rusting iron or tin
to produce Illness Another fallacy
common to the kitchen Is that as soon
a., Z lin OF food - opened the contents
-