The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-02-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information, Bureau
FREDERIC y. HAS2IN, Director.
Washington, d. G.
MORE SAFETY IN CANNING.

look for home in a. canning factory.
Gamers of fourteen big canning. states
i have set up their own inspection sery-
ice to supplement state and local in
tspection regulations. BY this volun-
tary supervision, we are told, canned
goods are to be. kept up to a par ex
cellence standard. This is an inapor-
tant project to nation that consumes
as much canned food as the United
| States.
Frank z. Gorre1l. secretary of the
National Gamers association, states
that factories employing the Gamers
inspection service are bound to require
ments more strict than any set by
state inspection boards. This high
standard he regards as a step in adj
vance for the canning industry and
an added guarantee to the consumer.
Redoubled vigilance ON the part of
the Gamers should not be taken to
mean that canned foods have been
carelessly prepared, or that they have
been a subject for complaint. The
National Gamers association an
nounces that in the past year $780,
600, 900 cans of food were used by this
country, and that not one authentic
case of illness was traced to COM
mercially canned foods.
| Out of millions of cans it is inevi-
table that few should spring a leak
or otherwise be defective, but the care
full housewife can tell at a glance if
| Besides the appearance and odor of
the food, the can itself is guide, for
/ it will swell if the contents become
spoiled.
These warning signals" says Mr..
/ Gorrell, ARE as easily recognized as the
decay. of a rotten apple. but to furnish
extra safeguards the National Gamers
| association decided to establish a vol
untary inspection service This serv-
ice is made use of only by Gamers
l ,frafr
the service are visited daily, sometimes
oftener, by an inspector who follows
the course of the product thru the
factory to see that each step is per-
formed according to the sanitary reg
ulations and standard of quality.
| THE inspector looks to see if only
| clean, sound materials are used, and if
1.-THE fish, fruits or vegetables have been
properly washed or trimmed in prep
aration for canning. He also invesu-
gates the packing of the cans. To
come up to the National Gamers
standard each can must be as full OF
food as practical, consistent with prop
er sealing and processing. and without
| injury to the quality and appearance
| of the product. The water, brine or
syrup added can be used only to fill
| cracks and to cover the product.
| THE inspector visits every corner
| of the, plant, always with the three
| fold purpose in mind-sanitation OF
the cannery, sanitation of the product
and wholesomeness of the product"
| This undertaking of the Gamers is
| especially worthy of recognition be-
| ira responsibility do SO of their own
| choice Most of the states. and some
cities, have inspection regulations, but
/ the forces provided to carry out the
| laws are necessarily small. and a fac
tory is visited by state officiales only
| once in awhile.
Besides state and local regulations
the Gamers have to comply with the
| pure food and drug law. This law
| deals entirely with the product when
it is on the market, and there is no
factory supervision by the national
government as a means of enforce
ment. Thus the Gamers have been
! left more or less to themselves. Fifty
canning factories in Ohio, for instance,
are under supervision of one state Of
fetal. Forty of these plants are now
also under inspection of the Gamers
with fourteen men in charge.
The fourteen states which have
established the sanitary inspection
service are the big centers of indus
trial canning. They range from Cali
fornia, the home of so much of our
canned fruit, to Illinois with its corn,
and New York with it's varied prod
ucts.
In each of the fourteen states
These fourteen nen were recently at
a banquet with DIR. Harvey Wiley, the
| food expert, and they found to their
surprise that eleven of them had
was chief of the bureau of chemistry
| in the United States department of
agriculture. Nearly all of these four
| teen directors are trained chemists
and PSYCHOLOGISTS, or have had long
experience in the canned food trade.
| All have previously been engaged in
| food inspection work.
The Gamers self imposed inspection
| service was first planned on small
scale in 1916. but 1t was not extended
to its present size until 1919. Now
the Gamers association reports that it
is steadily growing. and doubtless in
| time will include nearly all of the big
canning plants of the country.
| Results of the inspection project
will soon be brought to the attention
of buyers of canned goods by use of
| special certificate, to be pasted in the
| tins put out by plants and found to be
up to standard. These labels will bear
a picture of can and fruits and yege-
| bles, and the words Prepared under.
| the sanitary inspection service of the
National Gamers association"
This is the first year that a mark
of INSPECTION will be placed ON cans.
The National Gamers association says
| InaL can lack1nB the iaDe1 should not
/ be regarded as necessarily inferior, Is
| they may have been packed before the
use of the certificates began, or they
may be put out by company that
does not make use of the inspection
service.
All this effort on the part of the
Gamers to make canned goods abso-
i lutely safe for the public is very re-
assuring. The recent attacks of
botulinus poisoning, traced to the eat
| inc: of ripe olives, have caused the
public to entertain a cautious attitude
| toward canned foods in general.
Most of us consume some canned fooc
| every day. and it is comforting to be
told that the canning industry is being
| put on safer basis than ever before.
In fairness to the Gamers it should
/ he remembered that the recent cases
| of botulisrn were due not to canned
| food. but to a bottled product. A