Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-13

Washington, Sept. 11.-Here Is a
type of newspaper headline long famil-
lar to the American public-"Sevep
of Family Ill After Eating Canned
Soup" The average reader shakes MS
head over the item and wonders II the
restaurant where he ate his lunch serv-
ed him canned or fresh vegetables Nd
that salad. He decides that he Will
be careful about eating canned stu1f
at home.
For the average person that is the
end of the affair. He forgets ABOUT
the sick family, but the news item has
deposited in his mind a little more OF
the sediment that makes up for hlm
the deep-seated conviction that canned
foods, though cheap. are hazardous n
are to be p%artaken of only at one $
peril.
The publication of such an item,
however-and dozens of such items are
published every year in the American
newspapers-is only the beginning OF
an episode for an organization mann.
tanned in Washington by the packers OF
commercially canned foods. This or
ganiza ion, the National Gamers asso-
citation. occupied for the most part
with problems in science, now consti-
tutes an investigation bureau. Its
agents get quickly on the job-within
"a hours. if possible. If the case is a
serious one, difficult of solution, it will
call in the services of some specialist
from one of the great universities.
The investigation will probably end In
a laboratory somewhere.
But by whatever means the investi-
cation is conducted, the chances are
that the canned foods blamed will be
shown to be innocent and the illness
laid to some other cause. AS to the
test tube demonstrated that the illness
was due to some unwholesome meat
served at the meal. The canned soup
was perfectly wholesome.
The fact is that commercial canned
food today is the victim of q legend.
Whether there was ever any basis in
fact for the belief that such food is
dangerous, there certainly is little basis
for it now. The unmerited evil repu-
tation of timed food is kept alive today
principally by doctors. either through
ignorance or carelessness. A family
suddenly becomes i'll, obviously the VIC
tins of poison. The family doctor in
quires Immediately what the members
have eaten. If by any chance canned
food of any sort has been on the menu,
it is enough. The doctor promptly
names the culprit, and the newspapers
have another sensational item. The
doctor may not know that science has
now shown that the presumption of
guilt lies just as heavily, if not more
heavily, upon the fresh food eaten by
his patients. Indeed. it is probably a
safe statement that fresh foods today
are more likely to be unwholesome
than canned foods. The laboratory of
the Harvard medical school has already
demonstrated this fact.
Gamers Sought Truth
A few years ago the leading food
Gamers of the country. believing in
the purity of their product and sus-
pecting that many of the published in
stances of canned food poisoning were
~unfounded, determined to make indie
pendent investigation of all cases re-
ported in the newspapers. They had
organized the National Gamers assoc
citation. and they charged this body with
the responsibility of getting at the
truth. The subsequent Investigations
have shown that there is a surprisingly
small number of bona fide ~poisonings,
particularly when it is considered that
the American public consumes hundreds
of millions of tins of food every year.