Evening star., 1919-05-11
I YAVE you any idea what things
~ are in the bottled soft drinks

~ are in the bottled soft drinks
i i you consume-those three bill
lion bottles that. unhampered
after July l next by strong competi-
tion, may grow to more billions?
Well. some contain one thing. some
another. but all contain water, favor.
sweetening and carbon dioxide gas.
Those four things are the basic es-
sentials Of a bottled soft drink. There
Is likely to be some coloring matter.
and there may be an acid. usually
either the citric acid found in lemons
or tartaric acid found in grapes,
though sometimes mineral acids are
used Frequently there Is condi-
ment, such as red pepper. cinnamon,
allspice. cloves or nutmeg. There Is
almost certainly a trace OF alcohol.
And that Just about covers what is
likely to be found in soft drinks, ac-
cording to specialists in the bureau of
chemistry, Department of Agricul-
ture.
The favors used for soft drinks in
clude ginger, sarsaparilla, root beer.
cherry, wild cherry. lemon. straw
berry, raspberry. loganberry. orange
pineapple, grape. apple, pear. peacn
and others, and very frequently two
favors are combined in the same
product.
Prior to 1914. the sweetening used
was almost universally granulated
white sugar. When the shortage OF
sugar began to be felt. however. large
use was made of such substitutes as
corn sirup or glucose, corn sugar or
commercial dextrose, maltese sirup,
reginers' sirup and honey, Such sub
stitutions were encouraged as war
measure by the Department of Agrl-
culture, which now thinks it probable
that some of these substitutes will
be used regularly. The department is
even of the opinion that the use OF
certain substitutes is frequently de-
sirable. A larger quantity of the sub
stitute is ordinarily required to Sc
cure the same measure Of sweetness.
Thus the drink Is given more oody
and has a higher food value. Sweet
ening ingredients other than ordinary
sugar should be declared on the labels
of soft drinks shipped into interstate
commerce.
Food value in a soft drink is ordi
narily not considered by the person
who consumes it, but the fact remains
that good soft drinks do contain con-
siderable food. Such products as gin
ger ale. phosphate drinks. grape
drinks and lemon sours contain from
three fourths to one and half ounces
of sugar to each haif-pint bottle.
which is equal to. or double, approx
mately. the sugar ration allowed to a
meal under war conditions. One hun
dred thousand tons of sugar are used
each year in the sofe-drink industry.
The carbon dioxide gas that is pres
ent in all bottled soft drinks Is
wholesome product. identical with the
carbon dioxide which occurs naturally
in certain mineral springs in the
United States. the waters Of which are
highly priced for their effervescent
properties.
with the exception Of vanilla. near
ly all bottled soft drinks are artificial
ly colored. Ginger ale, sarsaprilla.
root beer. birch beer. chocolate and
the colas are ordinarily colored with
caromel. which Is another name for
burnt sugar. The other drinks are
usually colored with one OF the per
mitted dyes. napthol yellow for lemon
and orange drinks. amaranth, ponceau
or erythrosine for cherry. strawberry.
raspberry and the like. The use OF
certain harmless dyes Is permitted by
the national food and drugs law pro-
vided they do not conceal inferiority
and that the presence OF the dye is
plainly declared on the label By ex-
amining the label on the bottle. one
may know whether the soft drink he
buys contains an artificial color.
Many drinks contain the pure acids
of the fruits they simulate, but others
contain mineral acids. phosphoric be-
ing frequently used and sulphuric and
hydrochloric less frequently. The De-
partment OF Agriculture, in recent
publication on the composition and
value OF bottled soft drinks. says.
"Sulphuric and hydrochloric acids do