The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-14
Frederick Haskin's Letter
FOOD POISONING CASES

Every canned food poisonin,
case reported in the newspapers for
the last dozen years has been care
fully investigated by this associa.
ton, and practically all have been
found to be spurious. The things
that get into the newspapers al
cases of poisoning byscanned food
nearly always prove to be cases Of
acute indigestion, OF excessive eat.
ing. OF foreign substances getting
into food while being prepared for
the table, of dirty cooking utensils
Of deliberate fraud, or as it han.
pened once, even leaky gas pine
in . dining room.
As a grim by.product of these
Investigations, four murders have
been uncovered by the agents of the
association and one case of suicide
revealed. One woman poisoned her
husband by putting Paris green in.
to canned sardines. The sardiues
themselves were blamed for the
death until the canning experts
found the administered poison.
woman committed suicide, and the
physician to save her family from
disgrace, declared that she died
after eating canned tomatoes.
A more sensational episode oc.
CURED in the South. Here a small
child died supposedly of food pois-
oning from canned food. The ac-
count of the death was published
and accepted as the truth, and the
case was apparently closed. The
scientists of the Gamers. assoeia-
ton kept on, however, and found
evidences that dose of strych-
nine had been administered to the
child. The mother was finally
confronted with the evidence. She
admitted the truth and then before
anybody could stop her, she leaped
from the window and was killed.
No PtOmalnes In Canned Foods.
Another false idea that has gain
ed wide credence is that ptomaine
poison is likely to occur in canned
foods. Five years ago, research
into food poisons began at four
great American universities-Har-
ward, Stanford, University of Cali
! fornia, and University Of Chicago.
After five years Of research they
have yet to find a can of food con-
tanning ptomaines. The reason is
! that no such thing as ptomaines
exist. That theory has been thor
oughly exploded by investigations.
There are other food poisons, but
they are not ptomaines.
The detection of false poisoning
reports, however, is but a small
part of the work of the men in the
/ Gamers laboratory in Washing
ton. Their chief duties consist Of
Investigations looking to the i'm
provement of containers and Of the
processes of food preservation. DR..
w. D. Bigelow, formerly Of the
United States Bureau of Chemis-
try, is the head of the laboratory.
These men who work constantly
with canned foods and who under
stand better than anyone else the
gravity of genuine case of food pois-
oning, are themselves consumers
of canned food. They know the
conditions in the canneries today
and they have confidence in the
product. Moreover, when they 81,
at table they take with them an
apparatus which enables them tc
tell whether food is wholesome
Everyone who reads this possesses
the same equipment-one's OWL
senses.
To quote the tobacco advertise.
ment-"your nose knows" The
advice Of the canning experts to
the general consumer is this. New.
er swallow bite of any canned
food that looks, smells, or tastes
} unlike the standard product, even
though the taste or smell be not
unpleasant. Throw the whole thing
! away and take no chances. II en
consumers did that, the small num-
Der Of genuine food-poisoning cas-
es would be reduced to almost
nothing.