The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-14

Here is q type Of newspaper head
line long familiar. to the American
public-"Seven Of Family Ill AIT
er Eating Canned Soup" The av-l
erage reader shakes his head over
the item and wonders il the res
taurant where he ate his lunch
served him canned or fresh vege-
tables in that salad. He decided
that he will be careful about eat
ing canned stuff at home.
For the average person that IL
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 him the deep-seated
conviction that canned foods,
though cheap, are hazardous and
are IA - partaken OF only 1t ones
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 or
ganization maintained in Washing
ton by the packers of commercial
" canned foods. This organization,
the National Gamers Association,
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, il possible. II the
case is a serious one, difficult OF
solution, it will call in the SER
vices of some specialist from one
of the great universities. The in
vestigation will probably end in q
laboratory somewhere.
But by whatever means the in
|vestigation is conducted. the
chances are that the canned foods
blamed will be shown to be fnno-
cent and the illness laid to some
other cause. As to the sick family
cited above, the chemists 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 commercially
canned food today is the victim of
legend. Whether there was ever
any basis in fact for the belief that
such food is dangerous. there GER
tainly is little basis for it now.
The unmerited evil reputation of
timed food is kept alive today
principally by doctors, either
through ignorance or carelessness.
A family suddenly becomes i'll, OBJ
viously the victims of poison. The
family doctor inquiries Immediately
what the members have .eaten. II
by any chance canned food of any
sort has been on the menu, it is
enough. The doctor promptly
names the culprit, and the newspa-
pers have another sensational item.
The doctor may not know that sci
ence has now shown that the pre-
sumption of guilt lies just as heav-
lily, if not more heavily, upon the
fresh food eaten by his patients
Indeed. it is probably a safe state
Iment 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
suspecting that many of the pub
lished instances Of canned-food
poisoning were unfounded, deter
mined to make Independent investi.
cation of all cases reported in the
newspapers. They had organized
the National Gamers Association
and they charged this body will
the responsibility of getting at thu
truth. The subsequent investiga
tions have shown that there is {
surprisingly small number of bons
fide poisonings, particularly whel
it is considered that the American
public consumes hundreds OF mil
, lions Of tins Of food every year.