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Do not assume content reflects current scientific l<nowledge, policies, or practices
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. division of chemistky.
BULLETIN No. 82.
SPECIAL REPORT
ON THE
EXTENT AND CHARACTER
OF
FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
INCLTOIXG
STATE AND OTHER LAWS RELATING TO FOODS AND BEVERAGES.
BY
ALEX. J. WEDDERBURN,
SPECIAL AGEKT.
• PUBLISHED BY AUTHOEITY OP^iHE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.
GOVERNAIENT PRINTTNa 1892,
OFFICE,
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
JJ. S. Department of AaRicuLTURE
Division of Chemistry,
Becemher 9, 1891.
Sir : I have the honor to transmit for your approval the manuscrii)t of Chemical Bulletin No. 32, being a popular report, by Mr. A. J. Wed- (lerburn, on the adulteration of foods and drugs.
This report is a continuation of the work published in Bulletin Ko. 25 of the Division of Chemistry, and is designed to place in more pop- ular form than the strictly scientific bulletins of the Division the in- formation which we have collected in respect to the extent and charac- ter of food adulteration. Eespectfully,
H. W. Wiley,
Chemist,
Hon. J. M. EuSK,
Secretary,
3
LETTER OF SUBMITTAL.
Alexandria, Ya., October 20, 1891. Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a special report upon the character and extent of food adulterations in the United States, pre- pared in compliance with the terms of my commission received from the Secretary of Agriculture March 4, 1891. Having been directed to pre- pare a report similar in character and scope to Bulletin No. 25 of the. Division of Chemistry, 1 have carefully collated such new information upon the subject of food adulteration as is obtainable, and from the mass of valuable matter thus acquired have selected that which seems to be most important. In performing this work the effort has been made not to encroach upou the scientific phases of the subject, which are now receiving the attention of the division under your charge, and have already afforded such satisfactory results. Yery respectfully,
Alex. J. Wedderburn,
Siyecial Agent.
Dr. H. W. Wiley,
Chemist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Extent and character of food adulterations 9
The extent of adulterations 9
The character of adulterations ^ ^ = 10
Cost of adulteration 11
Lack of definition 12
Is adulteration universal ? a 12
The necessity for inspection 13
Appropriations 14
The necessity for legislation 15
Opinions regarding the need of national legislation relative to food adultera- tions 16
OiJinions from State officials 16-19
Eesolutions of the National Association of Food and Dairy Commissioners . 19
Adulterants of foods, beverages, and drugs 46
Common adulterants of foods and beverages 46
Adulterants of drugs 72
Poisons in manufactured articles 85
State and other laws relating to foods and beverages 87
Circulars of inquiry 173
Names of State commissioners 174
7
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
By Alex. J. Wedderburn.
THE EXTENT OF ADULTERATIONS.
The ioqiiiry into tbe extent of the adulteration of food, drugs, and liquors, provided for by act of Congress, demands a report on tbe ac- tual condition existing as to tbe adulteration of all articles taken into tbe bum an stomacb, and tbat such report be sufficiently terse to be generally useful and at tbe same time so free from scientific statements and pbrases as to make it available to tbe average reader, Tbe object of Congress in making tbe appropriation in question was evidently to secure facts upon a subject of great importance, and one wbicb is now agitating tbe public mind to an extent never before reacbed except upon a political question. Keeping tbis object in view, tbe attempt is made in tbis report to follow tbe cbaracter and scope of Bulletin l^o, 25. Tbe correspondence bad witb leading men of all professions, especially witb tbose engaged in investigating food adulteration and in manufac- turing food products of various kinds, is tborougbly convincing as to tbe very general extent of tbe sopbistication of tbe food, drug, and liquor supply.
No one can follow tbe varied and valuable reports made by tbe vari- ous State officers, in tbose States where laws exist (and a sufficient ap- propriation is made to execute them), without being convinced of tbe value to the State of such legislation. In previous bulletins issued by the Department, various laws upon tbis subject have been published, and herewith will be found some new laws recently enacted by other States, and wbicb seem, in some respects, to cover tbe ground better than older laws. There will also be found numerous extracts from re- ports, letters, and other documents supplied by correspondents who have kindly assisted in the effort to procure facts worthy of considera- tion. These extracts have been classihed and arranged under various headings, and will be found under their classifications in as sbort space as it is possible to present them. There is no mention herein of a sub- ject that occupied considerable space in Bulletin No. 25, viz, the dis- eases of animals used for food, Congress having by legislative enact- ment eliminated the subject from discussion, at least for tbe present.
9
10 EXTENT A^D CHAKACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Only one question of importance connected witli the cattle industry and tlie food supply remains to be considered, aud that is "milk." This article of universal diet, and upon which the future generations dei^end for life, is shown conclusively to be extensively adulterated both with water and by feeding the animal producing it with unhealthy food, and using the product of diseased cows.
The scientific work i)erformed in the Division of Chemistry of this Department, in its investigations into the various food adulterations, shows conclusively the actual extent and character of food adultera- tions, and should be carefully considered by all interested in the sub- lect. That adulteration exists to a most alarming extent can not, from the evidence be doubted; that the character is generally fraudulent rather than dangerous seems to be also pretty well established.
The extent to which sophistication has been practiced and the utter recklessness and hard-heartedness of the adulterator are shown by numerous instances which have come to my attention where the food for animals, horses, and cows especially, have been adulterated, in some cases the products having been heavily weighted with sand and plaster. Comment on such action is needless.
Wholesome laws have succeeded in checking the commercial frauds, but it is generally conceded by all State officers engaged in the work that until national legislation supplemeuts State laws, all such enact- ments will prove insufficient and unsatisfactory. The report from Lon- don shows that the anti-adulteration laws of Great Britain have almost entirely stopped the nefarious practice. The laws of New York, Xew Jersey, and Massachusetts, which have been fairly well enforced, have done much towards stopping the practice, or at least compelling the proper branding of the articles sold.
There is a general demand for remedial national legislation on this subject. jS"o one, however, desires to prevent the legitimate manipu- lation of any article so long as it is branded properly ; to ask more would be unjust, to ask less is to condone a felony and countenance a fraud.
■%
THE CHAEACTER OF ADTLTERATIONS.
Fortunately the character of the adulterations used is generally harm- less except from a financial standpoint. Were the case otherwise the damage done to the public health would be alarmingly great. While commercial frauds are the rule there are, as is proven, many cases where ill health and even death follow the use of articles poisoned with pigments, acids, tin, rancid oils, and other injurious commodities which are used to cheapen or add beauty to the article sold.
Polishing, powdering, watering, and adding such haruiless ingredients as earth, cracker dust, peas, beans, starch, etc., are comparatively harm- less, and would pass for honesty and uprightness when compared to the compositions above alluded to, and others, such as plaster of Paris,
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 11
soap stoDe, fusil oil, red oclier, fuller's earth, terra alba, and other in- gredieuts of like character; but even these are less harmful than the adulterations of drugs by which, as is shown,the very element of strength upon which the physician relies to save life is often extracted, left out, or diluted until it becomes a matter of grave doubt whether a prescrip- tion really contains what is ordered by the i^hysician. When we call in a physician and he prescribes certain drugs, it is our right to be able to purchase them and not such spurious articles as dishonest manufacturers and venders may palm off at their option. It is shown elsewhere that laudanum, an article generally used to assuage suffering, has been sold at a standard of 0 when the morphine should have reached 1.2 to 1.6. It is also shown that in the fifty samples reported to the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Society that there was a variation from 0 or even .03 to 1.19 J the dose required in the one case to relieve pain would in the other bring permanent and final relief.
The various decoctions, after being doctored with fusil oil, acids, ether, chloroform, and other drugs usually sold for stimulants and beverages, are undoubtedly the cause of many diseases and result not infrequently in death. That they increase drunkenness is an admitted fact, impair- ing the intellect and creating an unnatural thirst which leads the user to greater excesses in his desire to destroy the effects of the poisons taken into the system.
While this class of adulterations is certainly crimiual, the commer- cial frauds are the most general, but result in less physical damage, except in the case of milk adulteration ; by this practice the nourish- ment of the babe is abstracted, the helpless infant slowly starved, and, when suffering from the pains of hunger, is made to keep quiet by doses of injurious narcotics. To assume that such things are done through lack of intelligence is asking too much of even the most char- itable ; it is simply done through a desire to accumulate money by un- lawful and dishonest methods or to compete with some rival who is cheating his customers. Hence it is thought necessary by most dealers to join this army of knaves, self-preservation being the first law of na- ture.
COST OF ADULTERATION.
Ko reason exists for a change of the views expressed in Bulletin No. 25 as to the cost to the country of fraudulent adulterations ; and, while those figures have been attacked in certain quarters, still it is un- doubtedly safe to estimate that at least 15 per cent of the entire food product is adulterated in one form or another, the overwhelming pro- portion of which is sold under fraudulent brands.
Eecent State laws are gradually rectifying this evil, but, as long as the article is branded "pure" when it is "compounded," just so long is the deception a fraud and the purchaser swindled. The American Grrocer adheres to its estimate of 2 per cent of adulterations, which
12 EXTENT ANi) CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
may bold good iu ISTew York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, where good laws are tolerably well enforced;* uo such figures will, however, answer for the entire country. Fifteen per cent, as stated in Bulletin 25, would be much nearer the mark, in which case the loss on food alone would reach nearly, if not quite, $700,000,000 annually. Whether this be true of food alone can only be determined by Government inspection and actual figures ; but certainly when the adulteration of drugs and liquors is added the figures given are largely below the average.
LACK OF DEFINITION.
To define an adulteration one must first be able to define what the pure article is. This, in the absence of law and of regular formulas, is in many cases a matter most dilficult. For example, in the case of all articles made from unestablished formulas, such as yeast powders, beers, patent medicines, etc., there can be no definition of purity ; in the ab- sence of such definition the attempt to define its adulterants is an extremely difficult, if not an impossible, undertaking. But when the manipulator in the pursuit of gain uses poisons, which upset digestion, impair the human constitution, and in many cases cause death, the mat- ter becomes serious, and is too generally neglected. The use of such elements should be positively prohibited by law ; in the absence of such legislation, the practice is carried on with impunity.
IS ADULTERATION UNIVERSAL?
The London Hospital, in discussing this subject, says :
Speaking from an experience of -fifteen or twenty years, one medical man, at any rate, is able to say that he has not found his fellow men the business class half so black as they have been painted. Wines, which are so commonly ordered for sick people, are seldom or never the poisons they are said to be, unless they are purchased at poison prices. The poor, who can not afford to pay for good wines and spirits, should leave such things entirely alone, if they can not procure them from charitable friends. An old-fashioned wine merchant admitted to the writer quite recently that poisonous wines and spirits are undoubtedly manufactured, but then they are manu- factured because there is a demand for them on the part of people who can not afford to pay for bona fide wines and spirits. Those persons who can pay for genuine articles are just as sure of getting them honest and good as they are of getting honest and capable medical practice when they can offer reasonable fees for it. Exactly the same may be said of teas, coffees, cocoas, beef juices, infants' and invalids' foods, and their makers. All these things can be and are obtained of the highest order of excellence by people who are able and willing to pay for them according to their market value.
The above is doubtless true of America as well as of England, but, as stated elsewhere, the English laws have done much to mitigate the evil and protect the consumer.
It is a matter of less interest to the buyer to know that the article he
''The quotations herein made do not warrant such low figures, even for these favored localities.
EXTENT AND CHAKACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 13
buys is compounded or mixed than to know that it is properly branded. Few people suppose that a cheap article is as good as an expensive one, and many poor people, who are compelled to pay small prices, get poor goods.
Good prices, however, are no longer a guaranty of the excellence of those most important articles taken into the human system to relieve suffering and disease. It is plainly state<l in Kew York State official reports that the cost apparently has had little to do with the qual- ity of articles, as the poorest were often the highest in price, while the best were often sold at a low rate. All that can be learned from such testimony is that the practice of sophistication is general and some- times, fortunately not often, dangerous. There can be no question as to the right of the buyer to get what he pays for. To delay, therefore, the enactment of laws which compel the proper branding of the food and drug supply is unjust to the many who are imposed upon by dealers selling inferior articles as good and pure ones.
The I^ew England Grocer reports the case of George Yalliere, of Fall Biver, Mass., charged with selling adulterated maple sirup, and says: ^' Here is a case where an innocent man may suffer for the sins of an- other. Let dealers be absolutely sure that the goods they sell are pure.^'
Oases of this kind are the ones which especially suggest the need of Federal legislation to protect the innocent dealer as well as his cus- tomer. The sirup in question came in original packages from an adjoining State, Vermont.
THE NECESSITY FOK INSPECTION.
All correspondents who have touched upon the subject unite in the opinion that the demand for national inspection is general and abso- lutely necessary. Among the replies received from New York will be found that of Mr. Thurber, one of the largest dealers in food supplies in the United States, and that of Mr. Barrett, editor of the i^ew York Grocer, one of the most widely circulated and most popular journals in the interest of the food-supply trade, joins in the demand,
Br. Chancellor, secretary of the Maryland State board of health, says :
Proper inspections, supported by honest merchants and citizens, can largely pro- tect the con^manity from the frauds and underselling of unprincipled adulterators here and everywhere, and to possess a reputation for honesty in this respect would he worth millions to the trade of the city of Baltimore.
The same writer remarks :
If a mad dog and nitroglycerin, though rarely present, are dangerous agencies, ^nd as such require to he looked after, how much more important is it that we should take care of and protect from fraudulent adulteration the substances on which our existence depends. It can not be doubted that a fast advancing public opinion will, ere long, fully recognize the importance of health above any squeamish objections to a fancied disregard of " personal liberty " and property rights involved in the control of dangerous commodities.
14 EXTENT AND CHAEACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
As an example of the effect of inspection it may be noticed in the health report for the District of Columbia for 1890 that in the month of July, 1889, 648 dozen eggs were condemned. In August the number decreased to 90 dozen, and in September it fell off to one-fourth dozen, and since that date there has been none offered for sale. The same thing is noticeable in nearly all of the articles enumerated in the re- port.
The health department for the District of Columbia only four times in 1889 called on the courts, and in each instance the offenders were convicted and fined.
The saving estimated by Dr. Abbott in Massachusetts for 1886 was 5 per cent on $15,000,000, or $750,000. Such figures need no comment, and as they apply to all the States the necessity for protective laws is apparent.
In Massachusetts the average expense of collecting and analyzing for seven years ending in 1889 was $1.79 per sample. The increased purity of the food and drug products of the State show the cost to be comparatively infinitesimal, and the benefit of the greatest importance to the people of the State.
The percentage of adulteration found in the articles examined by the Massachusetts State board in 1886 was 36.9, while in 1881 it was over 60 per cent.
The following are some of the appropriations by the various States for 1890 :
From the foregoing quotations it will be clearly seen that wherever efficient laws have been enacted, backed by sufficient ai)propriations to properly execute them, great good has resulted in interfering with the unlicensed trade in adulterated goods. Eeputable merchants and manu- facturers unite in urging general legislation backed by the State offi- cials, most of whom in their reports complain of the lack of national laws and of inefficient laws or want of laws in adjoining States, which makes the enforcement of local laws much harder work, and in certain cases almost makes the law a dead letter.
Such laws as are enforced are giving satisfaction so general to con- sumers and to honest dealers that we find each year more rigid en- forcement of the statutes, and that the field is gradually widening and additional territory is being covered, while in those States which have for the longest period been regulating the food supply we find amend- ments which greatly aid the inspectors in the performance of their work,
APPROPRIATIONS.
New York . . . . Massacliusetts
Iowa
Ohio
$85, 000 95, 000 *20, 000 6,214
*Only half used.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 15
All that is now lacking seems to be the enactment of a Federal law governing the interstate-commerce question, and misbranding (which is the greatest evil) will, at no distant day, become so rare that here, as in England, the fraudulent dealer will have ceased to ply his voca- tion to any injurious extent.
THE NECESSITY FOR LEaiSLATION.
The necessity for legislation is proven by the existence of the fraud and the absolute impossibility of the States^by local inspections under local laws, to enforce a compliance with their regulations. The secre- tary of the State board of health of Maryland, Dr. 0. W. Ohanceller, one of the most distinguished sanitarians in the country, recently stated to me that in spite of the very excellent Maryland law (recently en- acted and published herewith) he was unable to secure convictions under it, and that in his estimation a national law was the only remedy.
In N^ew York and Massachusetts the health officers and inspectors have been more fortunate in their prosecutions, and numerous convic- tions have brought the offenders under some restraint.
The original-package decisions have added greatly to the trouble of enforcing State laws, and seem to demand of Congress some general legislation that will compel all products taken into the human system to be proi)erly branded.
The unanimous opinion expressed by a large number of prominent State officials is that Congress should enact laws to protect the peo- ple against fraudulent branding of the supply of food.
Tiie very general demand made by the leading agricultural and labor organizations of the country upon Congress for the passage of the pure- food bill, which came up for consideration during the last session of that body, indicate most unmistakably the feeling of the American people on the subject.
As a matter of convenience and reference the accompanying extracts, which are culled from the best sources of information attainable, are divided under appropriate headings.
A public acknowledgment of assistance rendered is due to the many gentlemen who so kindly and promptly responded to the requests for information. To enumerate their names would be imyjossible in the space at my command.
OPINIONS REGAEDING THE NEED OF NATIONAL LEftlSLATlON RELATIVE TO FOOD
ADULTERATION.
Eeplies to in((uiries sent oat were received from the following- States: Alabama, Galiibrnia, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Kentnckr, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachosetts, Min- nesota, N^evada, Kew Hampshire, ^ew York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsyl- vania, Khode Island, Texas, Yermont, Yirginia, and West Yirginia, twenty-five in all.
The opinions expressed, as will be observed, unite in the belief that some relief should be secured to the people by national and State legislation. While the information received from some States has shown an absence of legislation on this subject, stil! the fact that so many States fail to provide proper laws to i^revent misbranding the food supply is a matter of interest, especially when taken in connection with the earnest expression of competent, reliable, and efticient State officials who show that their greatest difficulties lie in this very fact, and in the lack of Federal legislation. It is to be regretted that no information has been received from (pertain other States, especially from Michigan, where good laws are in force and where the officials are actively and effectively engaged in enforcing them.
OPINIONS FROM STATE OFFICIALS.
In order to obtain expressions of opinion from those best qualified to speak upon the subject of a national anti-adulteration law, the ])roper officers of the various States, as far as their addresses could be ob- tained, were written to in regard to the matter. Their replies, which are given below, are worthy of i^erusal, and seem to indicate unmis- takably the necessity for Congressional action, not only to aid honest manufacturers in carrying on a legitimate business, but also to enable State officers to enforce State laws :
Commonwealth of Massachuset!S, Office of State Board of Health, 13 Beacon street, Boston, December 5. 1S91. Dear Sir : - * * A natioual law relative to food adulteration would certainly be very much to our advautage, since there are very many adnlterated articles of food which come to us from foreign couutries without restriction, tlie sale of which should he limited hy law. Yours, respectfully.
S. W. Abf.ott,
S:C7-etarii.
16
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. ■ 17
State of Minnesota, Dairy and Food Department,
St. Paul, December 11, 1891.
Dear Sir: Iu reply to yours of a recent date, will say that the national Congress can not extend too much help to the several States in the matter of passing pure food laws and delegate to those States the right to pass such pure food laws as they may deem expedient and. for the good of the people thereof.
1 think agreat work can be done in the several States through the State pure food de- partments and with the unrestricted rights of State legislatures to pass purefood. laws for such departments to carry out and enforce for the prohibition or restriction of im- pure dairy and food products within the State borders. Onr present interstate- commerce laws greatly interfere with the carrying out of many of our pure food laws. The interstate-commerce law and the courts seem to place impure foods on the same footing as pig iron or wool as far as the commerce between States go. An advanced step has been taken in the inspection of meats from a national standpoint, and I can not see why national law should in any way hamper the people's wishes in the matter of enforcing and passing pure food laws in their own States.
A. K. FiNSETn, Dairy and Food Commissioner. Per J. A. Lawrence, Assistant Dairy and Food Commissioner.
Office of New York State Dairy Commissioner,
Albany, December IG, 1891.
Dear Sir: The dairy commissioner is not here and may not be for several days, hence I give you my opinion relative to the question you ask, namely : I believe that a general "anti-adulteration" law would be a good thing for all concerned. I be- lieve it is always a wise thing to do the right thing, and I believe it is always the right thing to deal honestly. I do not see why dealers in commodities that are sold on the market for consumption have any more right to sell adulterated commodities than the purchaser of such commodities has to pay for them in counterfeit coins.
I believe that if some means could be devised whereby such dealing could be stopped or reduced to a minimum it would be not only a blessing to the people, but I believe that there are good reasons to anticipate that it would have a telling effect upon the health of the people of the country.
This is my personal opinion and not necessarily the views of the dairy commissioner of this State. Your communication will be laid before him when ho returns ; he may see fit to write you his views at that time. Very respectfully, yours,
Geo. L. Flanders, Assistant Dairy Commissioner.
Office of the New York Dairy Commissioner,
Albany, January 21, 1892. Dear Sir: Your letter of the 10th untimo has been laid before the dairy commis- sioner, together with reply to it by me on December 1(5. The dairy commissioner instructs me to say that he approves of the sentiments expressed in my letter, and he desires to add that Federal legislation may be such as to be a great benefit to us in this State iu the enforcement of tiie statutes against imitation goods.
That one of the greatest needs now is, that some Federal legislation be enacted, such that we may be able to enforce the statutes upon our books without hindrance from the effects of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in what is known as the original package cases. 19150~No. 32 — -2
18 • EXTEXT AND CHARACTEE OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Our lawsiu this State are aimed against not only adulteration, but goods in imita- tion or semblance of the pure or genuine article. Legislation that would help ns most sbould be of such a character as to assist in enforcing laws along that line with- out necessarily bringing in the question of adulteration. That is to say, the laws may provide, as they should, against adulteration, but should not confine their opera- tions to adulteration.
We find that goods are put upon the markets which are made in imitation or sem- blance of the genuine article, and well calculated to deceive the purchaser or con- sumer. Such goods may or may not be adulterated.
A law which confines itself to dealing with adulteration only would not reach this class.
Very respectfully, yours,
Geo. L. Flanders, Assistant Dairy Commissioner.
Trenton, N. J., Xovemher 23, 1891. Dear Sir: I sincerely hope Congress will adopt a suitable bill next winter to pre- vent adulteration and deception in food and drugs.
My time being limited to-day, I will take up your letter again and give you my humble views as to how a national law will benefit and assist the authorities in our State in the enforcement of her present laws on the subject. I am, yours truly,
Geo. W. McGuire,
Dairy Commissioner,
Office of Ohio Dairy and Food Commission,
Columbus, Ohio, December 3, 1891. Dear Sir : I was and am in favor of a bill similar to the Paddock bill. Will in the future write you more fully. Truly, yours,
E. Bethel.
Office of Oregon State Food Commissioner,
Portland, Oregon, December 1, 1891.
Dear Sir : I regard the manufacture of imitation foods, drinks, or medicines as frauds, and deny the power of any government to license a fraud. I believe that the Federal -Government, as well as any of the States, have the right to x^rohibit the manufacture or sale of any article made in imitation of a pure article, ifc matters not under what name it is sold. The fact that it is made in imitation is fraud of itself.
The move put on foot to grant a State the right to prohibit the importation of arti- cles from another State is plainly in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States. I don't believe that the Federal Government should pass any laws; let the State prohibit the making of all imitations. As regards butter imitations, the very fact that if the law requires the article (as our law does) to be ^-plainly marked, so as to establish its true character and distinguish it from pure articles,'^ be strictly euforced, as our law is, stops the trade.
In 1885 I drove every pound out of our State inside of thirty days, and before I had been in office this time thirty days there were po butter imitations to be found. Truly, yours,
W. W. Baker,
Qommi^sxQner,
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS, 19
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Board of Health, Philadelphia, Noveniber 24, 1891. Dear Sir : Your favor of the 20tli instant, in which you do me the honor to ask my opinion for your report as to the necessity and benefits of a national anti-adultera- tion law covering the interstate trade, is received. That we need stringeui laws to prevent misbranding and injurious adulteration anyone who has taken the trouble to give any study to the subject can not fail to see. That it is unfortunate to have laws of different degrees of stringency and different scope of application in the sev- eral States is equally apparent.
If Congress could frame a law which would establish uniformity in regulation throughout the entire country the gain would be great. I am not enough of a law- yer to know exactly what coustitutional objections might be raised against such an enactment, but it would seem to me that the result could be reached on the same line of procedure as that by which the interstate-commerce act was obtained. Yours, very truly,
Benjn. Lee,
Secretary.
Madison, Wis., December 4, 1891. Dear Sir : In my opinion too much can not be said to the end of securing national laws to control sophistication. State laws will never be so made that they can all be enforced without working hardship to manufacturers and dealers. Certain food standards will be fixed by one State and certain standards will be fixed in another. To have an effective law the same standard should obtain in all States. Then the maker or producer of foodstufi^ can send one grade to all of his trade. Again, if national laws were in effect they would bo a guide which all of the States would readily follow, and soon there would be a system uniform and jnst. I regret that I have not the time to follow this matter at length, but trust that you will do it for me. I am deeply interested in this matter, and none can more fully appreciate the discourage- ments that stand in the way of a single State or half dozen States to cope with this important question. We must have national legislation, and I firmly believe that it will come.
"V ery truly,
H. C. Thom.
Resolutions of the National Association of Food and Dairy Commsssioners.
The importance of a national law can not be more clearly shown than in the following expressions of the National Association of Food and Daily Commissioners, adopted January 14, 1891.
Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention that Congress should at the earliest possible date enact such laws as will require that all dairy and other food products which enter into the commerce of this nation, both interstate and international, shall be true to name ; that all adulterations, imitations, or substitutions of or for any dairy or other food product shall be distinctly labeled as just what they are in all the commercial transactions into which they enter and over which Congress has control.
Resolved, That we respectfully ask of Congress such legislation as will secure to the several States proper police power, such as will enable them to protect their own citizens in the prod uction of pure, healthful dairy and other food products, and against the importation and sale of fraudulent adulterations or imitations of such products,
20 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
and of unsound and diseased meats, to wliicli they are now exposed under tlie late famous " original package" decision of the Supreme Court; and to this end we moat earnestly and respectfully ask that the Paddock bill, perfected by striking out the word ''knowledge" in the fifth line of section 2 and in all other places where used in the same sense and connection, be speedily enacted into law, as also the pure-lard bill and the Hiscock bill.
The above resolution, so far as it related to the Paddock hill, was adopted.
Other reports — Arranged hy States.
lu Bulletin 25 the statement was made that tlie country had cause to be congratulated upon the character and ability of the gentlemen in charge of the sanitary and food inspectorships of the various States. Since that bulletin was issued the work of suppressing fraud in the food supply has been vigorously and in a measure successfully pushed. The same condition seems to exist now as at that time; the ofQcers are careful, cool, and clear-headed in the prosecution of the delicate work assigned them, and in nearly every case where prosecutions have taken place convictions have followed. A merchant generally prefers to sell pure goods, but he is often deluded iuto selling impure ones because his competitor is doing the same thing, and the dishonest manufacturer paints in glowing terms the advantage and innocence of the deceit.
ALABAMA.
Dr. N. T. Lupton, State chemist. Auburn, writes : " I have no results of sufficient importance to report on the adulteration of food, drugs, and liquors."
CALIFORNIA.
J. Hoesch, secretary health department, San Francisco, writes : ''We once in a while have an analysis of milk made; other than that noth- ing is done. If we find any food not fit for use, it is condemned by an inspector."
The great fight against adulterations in California came from the wine- growers. The State has special wine laws and a board of viticultural commissioners. The olive is fast becoming an important industry to this section, but as will be seen elsewhere the use of cotton seed and other vegetable oils as adulterants has so reduced the price that the olive orchards are being cut down to make room for more profitable crops. Tbe State Grange has for several years warmly and earnestly advocated national legislation in favor of pure food.
CONNECTICUT.
From a pamphlet by A, L. Winton, of the Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven, Conn., the following extract is taken :
The sale of adulterated foods in Connecticut has been carried on, as a rule, without restriction. We have, it is true, a general law '* to prevent the adulteration of food
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 21
and other articles," but it is practically a dead letter. While the special laws with reference to the sale of adulterated butter, molasses, and yinegar have been enforced and thereby much good Las been accomplished, still other articles of food are grossly adulterated and the people find no protection.
The general adulteration law referred to empowers local boards of health to pro- cure from dealers samples of suspected foods and drugs and have the same analyzed by one of the State chemists. In case a sample is found to be adulterated with " any deleterious or foreign ingredient *' the certificate of the chemist to that effect shall be published in some paper and the cost both of the analysis and of publishing the cer- tificate shall be paid by the seller. In all cases where samples are found to be pure the cost of analysis shall be paid by the city, borough, or town whose board of health caused the work to be done.
The principal reasons why this law has not been enforced are :
(1) Public opinion has not demanded it.
(2) It calls for the expenditure of funds from the treasuries of our cities, boroughs, and towns at the discretion of their several boards of health, and our municipalities have ev^er been loath to give their boards of health proper financial support.
(3) The State chemists are not equipped for making the analj^ses which the proper enforceuieut of the law would require The food analyst should be thoroughly pre- pared to carry on a great variety of chemical and microscopical work.
The molasses and butter laws would likewise have failed to accomplish their pur- pose had not the experiment station at New Haven, in addition to the agricultural work for which it was originally designed, undertaken the analysis of the samples, in order that these laws might not become a dead letter like the general law regarding adulteration. The station is not, however, legally compelled to do this work. * *• * In some measure the people in this State have j)rofited by the work done else- where, chiefly in having their attention called to the subject. On the other hand, it is undoubtedly true that stringent laws in other States which drive adulterated foods out of their market drive them into ours. Adulteration is a profitable business and the opportunities offered in Connecticut are not neglected. Even where the best system for the suppression of fraud is in operation there are dealers who, especially when the chances for profit are great, are willing to run the risk of detection. Now that the people of Connecticut are being awakened to the importance of food adul- teration laws, as was evinced by clauses inserted in the platform of both the leading political parties during the last State election, and in view of the extensive adultera- tion practiced in the other States, a better knowledge of the condition of the foods in our market seems desirable.
' The evidence which has been j)roduced, however, is sufficient to prove that the sale of adulterated foods is extensively carried on in the State, the material used being in some cases injurious to health, in others merely fraudulent. A subject of such importance deserves more of the attention of our lawmakers. While every effort is being made to secure the arrest and conviction of counterfeiters of money, the counterfeiters of foods, although standing no higher in the moral scale, usually go unpunished. This state of affairs will continue until a thorough system of food inspection is adopted. Adulteration laws properly enforced would not only save the public thousands of dollars every year, but the fines collected from offenders would go far toward defraying the extra expense incurred by the State.
DELAWARE.
Prof. C. L. Parry, chemist, Delaware College, Xewark, Del., says: "I regret the work of this laboratory has not beeu on such subjects as to allow full answers to your questions."
The Delaware State Grange, like most all of the State Granges, passed resolutions demanding the passage of the pure food and pure lard bills.
22 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
FLORIDA.
Prof. Horman Eobinson^ State chemist, writes i
The only case of adulteration of %yliicli I have personal knowledge was a case in Sanford, Orange County, two years since, when a strong and probably ''alcoholic strengthened" lager beer was sold under the name of "rice beer." The sale of the latter was permitted by the authorites ; the sale of all "intoxicants" was, at the same time, strictly prohibited. Microscopic tests showed the entire absence of rice starch grains and the presence of barley and corn starch grains. My own conviction is that the beer contained " alcohol " which was the particular adulterant, and in this case was " poisonous or injurious."
The professor adds that his official duties do not require the exainiua- tion of food, drugs, and liquors, which are only examined incidentally.
ILLINOIS.
Dr. John H. Eauch, by direction of Governor Fifer, writes : "1 regret to say that no systematic investigation has been made in this State with regard to the adulteration of food, drugs, or liquors."
Thanks are due Dr. Ranch for copies of synopsis of the laws of Illi- nois affecting health, and for the eighth annual report, in which he marks an account of the "Momence ptomaine" poisoning cases, which, how- ever, are not elsewhere referred to because the subject of live stock in- spection has already been acted upon by Congress.
Dr. Ranch says his board has several times investigated ice cream poisoning. In a few instances it was supposed to have been caused by the flavoring extract, but such was not the case.
Prof. Ed. H. Farrington, chemist, agricultural experiment station^ writes : " During the year and a half that I have been in this State my attention has not been drawn to this subject. I believe a dairy com- missioner would be very helpful."
The following is taken from pages 64 and 65, Report State Board of Health, 1886 ;
i'OOD SUPPLIES.
In general people must win and choose their own bread and meat ; but it is too obvious to need argument, that the food supplies of cities must come from a distance, and the larger the city the greater the distance. In the long transportation decay begins its work and incipient diseases are engendered. Cupidity fearing loss conceals as best it can the damaged and tainted character of the meats and fruits it oifers for salCj or tempts the poor, by a cheaper price, to bay and use its unwholesome viands. Adulteration comes to add its deceits and dangers in almost every dish which appears upon their tables. A thorough system of public inspection by competent, vigilant, well paid, and well watched inpectors may ward otf much of the danger; but the remedy should begin back of that, in a well-chosen location of the abattoirs and slaughterhouses in a healthful situation, where the animals destined for slaughter may have ample yards and a supply of food and water, and where the meat may be free from tainted and germ bearing air, and in the proper location and construction of the market houses, to allow them to be kept clean and sweet, free from all decay, ing animal or vegetable substances and from all taiut of pollution and disease. The
EXTENT AXD CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 23
best food material may be spoiled in a few hours by the absorption of filth from a polluted and poison-loaded atmosphere. Cities must meet with due care the artificial condition which compels them to bring their food from such wide areas, or the ruined health and the scourging epidemic will surely punish their neglect.
The truth of these remarks will be generally admitted ; but it is not the poor of large cities alone who are in danger; the well-to-do, and the inhabitants of rural towns and villages are liable to suffer alsoj as shown at Momence."
IDAHO.
Gov. ^N'orman B. Willey, of Idaho, writes:
I regret to have no information to furnish you on the subject. The law of the State makes the offense a misdemeanor, but I can not learn that any punishment has ever been inflicted upon any person in connection with it. No complaint has been made to this office of unusual adulteration of food products or liquors, and no legislation has been undertaken.
IOWA.
Br. J. F. Kennedy, Des Moines, secretary of the Iowa St-ate board of health, says :
I am very much interested in your line of work, and wish, we had some systematic inspections and examinations in this State.
At a later date, he writes:
We have no examiner of food and drinks in connection with our board, and hence no official reports. I have no personal knowledge on either of the above questions. Mr. Ta])per, of Osage, Iowa, is our State dairy commissioner, and he can give you statistics relative to the purity of dairy products.
In another letter Dr. Kennedy says :
Unfortunately there are no provisions for investigations and lienco no means of detecting adulterations. In consequence the law is, at least as far as any reported re- sults are concerned, practically a dead letter. I presume some who know the prohibi- tions and penalties of the law are deterred thereby from resorting to such fraiTdulent methods as the law is designed to prevent.
KEIS^TUCKY.
Dr. J. 2:»r. McCormick, secretary State board of health of Kentucky, writing from Bowling Green, says:
Your circular letter in regard to " adulteration of foods, drags, and liquors," ad* dressed to the governor, has been referred to this board for reply. Continued inves- tigation in this State has developed the fact that the sale of adulterated food has been and is still extensively carried on. Our general laws upon the subject are prac- tically valueless, although many municipalities are better protected by local regula- tions. This board has urged the passage of a bill prepared by the National Board of Trade upon the General Assembly, but its efforts in this direction have so far been unsuccessful. AYe hope to succeed better next winter.
LOUISIANA.
Prof. William G. Stubbs, State chemist, writes :
This station has recently made official examinations for the Chemical Division of the Agricultaral Department, for the result of which reference to the report is made.
24
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
lu his examination of molasses, honey, confectionery, etc., he found mainly glucose (starch and dextrin), and occasionally salts of tin, zinc, besides various coloring matters and terra alba in candies.
It will be seen that the salts of tiu, zinc, and most coloring matters are poisonous. Terra alba (white earth) is certainly not wholesome, especially for children.
MASSACHUSETTS.
Eeports furnished by Dr. Abbott, Boston, secretary to the board of health :
There were analyzed for the year ending September 30, 1889, 5,454 samples, being a greater number than any previous year except 1888, when under special legislation relative to oleomargarine the number was greater.
Food.
Number of samples analyzed 4,854
Samples found to be pure 3,213
Samples adulterated or not conforming to statutes 1, 641
Percentage of adulteration 33. 8
Number samples of milk analyzed 3,216
Above standard 1, 971
Below standard or adulterated 1, 248
Percentage of adulterations 38. 7
Drugs.
Number analyzed 600
Of good quality 503
Not conforming to law 97
Percentage of adulterations 16. 2
Total examinations of food and drugs 5, 454
Good quality 3, 716
Not conforming to statutes , 1, 738
Percentage of adulteration 31.9
The total examinations of food and drugs for the years enumerated show a marked decline in the percentage of adulteration, owing, doubtless, to the able State supervis- ion and rigid inspections which are aided as far as possible by honest dealers and manufacturers. The inspection of 1884 shows the percentage of food products found to be adulterated was 60.3 ; since which time they have gradually been reduced until in 1889 they are only 33.8. In 1884 the percentage of milk adulterations was 69.1 ; in 1889 it was 41.9 ; in 1884 the percentage of drugs adulterated was 36.8, while in 1889 it was only 16.2.
Dr. Abbott reports 140 complaints for violation of the law, of which convictions were secured in 124 cases, the percentage of convictions being 88.5; 13 only were discharged, and 3 had not been acted upon.
In 1889, out of 53 prosecutions under the oleomargarine law in Massa- chusetts 47, or 89 per cent, were convicted.
A leading firm of millers' agents in Boston write:
Concerning wheat flour, would say that in twenty-five years' experience we never heard of but one case where adulteration with alum was charged, and that was a rumor, and if it was done it was to make bread show very white in baking.
The effect of such a flour on the system, especially young people who have not at- tained their growth, would be injurious.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
25
Adulteration by white corn, ground fine, might be made and such has been done^ but not of late years, since flour has been cheap. The effect of that would be not at all injurious, but would simply tend to decrease cost.
A prominent Boston packing house writes :
We have been offered a red coloring for tomatoes, but know nothing of its nature. Have never used it.
From several sources reports are beard of alum in flour, used to whiten, but a well-authenticated case of the use of this certainly in- jurious adulterant has not been found.
MARYLAND.
Governor Jackson says he "referred the matter to Dr. C. W. Clian- celler, secretary of tbe State board of health, the board under the State laws having the power to enforce them.
Dr. Chancellor writes as follows :
I inclose herewith copy of the law passed by the general assembly, January session of 1890, in reference to the adulteration of food and drink. Since the passage of this act, I have had a large number of articles of food and drink examined, with the result that few of those, which admitted of adulteration or the adulteration of which was profitable, was entirely free from sophistication, and I can not, therefore, avoid the conclusion that adulteration widely prevails. Not only is the public health thus exposed to danger, aud pecuniary fraud committed, but the public morality is tainted, and the commercial character of the country, no doubt, seriously lowered.
I may add that offenders against the adulteration laws of this State have, thus far, been treated in the courts in the most absurdly lenient fashion.
The following is taken from Dr. Chancellor's report for 1888, pages 36 and 37 :
If our sugars manufactured here are all pure, our oleomargarine of the best, our vinegar all from high wines and cider, our beers and ales all they purport to be, our tinware all safe, our kerosene oil all up to the legal standard, our baking powders all good, our wines and spirituous liquors unadulterated and unmixed, and every one of our hair restorers and wall papers free from every dangerous ingredient, still there is need of competent inspectors to keep out the poisonous adulterated articles which are constantly liable to be brought here from other places.
B. B. Ross, of Baltimore, Md., reports baking powders and sirups as adulterated. He claims alum as the principal adulterant.
Some powders contain excess in starch filling, in 1 sample more than 50 per cent starch being found. Other food articles we have examined here have been free from presence of adulterations in appreciable quantities.
Messrs. W. P. Harvey & Co., Baltimore, truly say :
Everything has already been made public regarding the adulteration of lard. The merchants and handlers know all about it. but it is the great army of ignorant con- sumers who are deceived =
MINNESOTA.
A vigorous prosecution of the laws against dairy adulterations in Minnesota present a most satisfactory condition of the market, as they show an adulteration of only 7^ per cent. Of 20 samples of cheese none were adulterated, but 15 per cent proved to be below the legal stand- ard of 40 per cent of fat to total solids. Only 5 per cent were skimmed
26
EXTENT AXD CHAEACTER OF FOOD ADT'LTERATIOXS,
cheese. The total average of cheeses examined were 45.17, while if all below the standard and the skim cheeses are left out the result is 50.91, or nearly 11 per cent above legal require ineut, which speaks volumes for the effective enforcement of wholesome and judicious laws.
The report of the Dairy and Food Commissioner, Warren J. Ives, for 1889-^90 has in it much of value to the people of this State and the gen- eral public. The following extract is given :
As will be seen by reference to these reports, the inspection of the dairy and food products upon the market has been vigorously prosecuted. The results are such as to conclusively prove the benefits to the public resulting from the labors of the com- mission within the lield included under the present laws with reference to dairy prod- ucts; while some samples of milk are found that are below the legal standard, the cases of actual adulteration are rare. The samples of butter examined show that while there are plenty of samples of poor butter to be found, that but few butter sub- stitutes are encountered upon our markets. The samples of cheese also prove to be uniformly pure and free from foreign fats.
BAKING POWDERS.
The statement has been repeatedly made that the law relative to the sale of alum baking powder was. to all intents and purposes, a dead letter, and since no prosecu- tions have been made under its provisions that it is totally without effect.
The aim and intent of the law was to secure to purchasers their right to a knowl- edge of what they were buying, and thus to enable them to protect themselves from misrepresentation and fraud. To this end it was prescribed that all alum baking powders state upon their labels '"'This baking powder contains alum.'" A conformity with this law is all that the Dairy and Food Commission seeks to secure, and their labors are proving successful, as shown by the following table taken from the report of the chemist. Since the ijublication of the former report there have been found 401 lots of alum bakiug powder on sale, of which o2o lots, or 81 per cent, have been found to be properly labeled, while only 76 lots, or 19 per cent, were without such distinguishing mark. That such a large portion of the alum powders of the market as found upon the shelves of the retailer should be those labeled in accordance with the law. which became operative only eight months ago, is surely a gratification to those having the enforcement of rhe law in charge, and plainly shows the wisdom of the methods employed in effecting such enforcement.
VLN'EGAB.
A large number of samples of vinegar have been examined, and are reported upon by the chemist. When the showing of the present is compared with that of former reports it becomes eviilenc that the amount of vinegar that is manufactured and sold at wholesale which conforms in character and strength vv ith the le^ial requirements is very largely increased, and that the manufacturers and wholesale dealers as a v> hole are endeavoring to supply an article that will pass inspection.
It becomes equally evident, as shown in the present report, that the retailer is largely responsible for the imposition and fraud which is still practiced. That such is the case is shown by the facts herein reported, that of a total of 163 colored vine- gars examined 114 were represented to the inspector to be cider vinegar, while only 41 were found to be such upon analysis, and only 35 were found to be branded upon the barrel.
The law requires that all manufacturers and wholesale dealers in cider vinegar should brand the same as such, and that this provision is invariably carried out there can be no doubt. It is known by all intelligent dealers that vinegars otherwise
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
"branded do not represent tbe product of apple cider, and ai'e not entitled to be sold as such. In consequeuce of these facts, in the future reports of the commission the plan of publishing the names of the retailers who persist in palming oS colored low- wine Annegars as cider vinegars will be inaugurated in order that the public may be informed as to who the parties are who are thus imposing upon their cnsfcomersi
In the same report, pp. 16 and 17, Prof. W. S. EberinaOj cliemist, makes the following report on vinegar and baking powders:
VINEGAR.
By referriug to former reports from this department, it will be seen that the per cent of adulteration in vinegars is steadily on the decrease. Thirty-four per cent of the vinegar analyzed in the past four months was found to be adulterated. This re- port shows 29 samples of cider vinegar, 14 of white wine, 1 of orauge, and 1 of ma- ple viuegar ; a total of 73 samples.
The temptation to adulterate and misrepresent comes through colored wine vine- gar. The manufacturers and the wholesale dealers have worked well along the lino of correcting the evil. The major portion brand and sell their goods according to the letter and sjDirit of the law. But many retail dealers take undue advantage of their customers, and instead of selling the pure cider vinegar, such as they call for, they palm off colored white wine. The deceptive practices of the retailer are being noted and in the long run will revert ujjon themselves.
BAKING POWDER.
In this connection I have to report 16 samples of baking powder received at the laboratory and analyzed. A marked improvement may be noticed so far as the gen- eral character of the baking j^owders found in the market is concerned. Only 2, or 12.5 per cent, were found to be adulterated or sold illegall3^ There is an evil, how* ever, which is creeping in, and a practice among the manufacturers of baking pow- ders that ought not to be countenanced, but receive the seal of condemnation. I re- fer to the blind label of the alum baking powders. Also, to their legerdemain in sup- port of the use of alum in baking powders. As an illustration reference is made to an alum powder manufactured by the Phoenix Baking Powder Company, of Chicago, 111. More especially is attention called to Nos. 70, 71, and 72 of the j-eport, marked with a star.
The manufacturer of No. 70 states "that a small quantity of alum is necessary to retain strength of powder. Warranted healthful." Cream of tartar powders under- go a chemical change in baking which produces Rochella salts! What a marvelous statement for an intelligent manufacturer to make.
No. 71. ''Alum adds strength but is not unwholesome or injurious."
No. 72. " It is free Irom potash alum and Is not strictly an alum powder. W'e guarantee it to give perfect satisfaction."
Such jugglery would be tabood by the veriest quack.
Prof. Charles W. Drew, of Minneapolis, reports to the Dairy and Food Commis- sion the inspection of 1G31 samples, of which 609 were analyzed with results show- ing:
|
Samples. |
Adulter- ated. |
Percent- age. |
|
48 |
20 |
42 |
|
20 |
1 |
5 |
|
249 |
117 |
47 |
|
158 |
21 |
12 |
|
10 |
10 |
100 |
|
22 |
18 |
82 |
Milk
Baking po\yders.
Vinegar
Lard
Ground coffee . . . Ground mustard.
28 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
These vinegars mentioned above were not altogether below the standard, as only 48 per cent fell below the legal requirement, but the others were misrepresented as to quality and from what they were made.
The same authority says that out of 60 samples of confectionary examined he has failed to find a single case where terra alba existed, or any other article detrimental to health.
This report makes the first official mention that I have seen of the "manufactured coffee bean," which is being made in New Jersey and Philadelphia, and which the merchants are being induced to try. Dr. Drew says he has failed to find any of this spurious article in liis bailiwick and that it is made of baked dough, pulverized cof- fee, etc.
Ground mustard is defined by Dr. Drew as the product of the crushing or grinding and siftiug of the seed of the black or white mustard. In order to be considered pure it should be made from the seed in their natural condition without expression of the fixed oil and should be free from the adulterants, such as starch or flour and of coloring matter, such as tumeric, chrome yellow, or any of the coal-tar colors. The claim that mustard will not keep unless mixed with flour or starch or has the oil expressed is proven false by the fact that the best grades are those which are made from the natural seed.
MAINE.
Mr. A. G. Young, secretary to the governor of tbe State, writes :
The State board of health of Maine has done but very little indeed, or almost nothiug, worth reporting in the way of investigation on the subject of adulteration of food, drugs, and liquors. Prof. Robinson, of Bowdoin College, a member of our board, has done something, and for a report of the little which he has done I have referred the matter to him, and I think you will hear from him before long.
Prof. Robinson writes from Augusta as follows:
I have made from time to time some analysis, but no systematic investigation. First as to food : Some three years ago I found that glucose was largely used to adul- terate table sirup, but the examination of many samples through the past year has proved that less of it is now used. A year ago I made examination of many of the cheap candies sold in this town, but no poisonous adulterations were fonnd. Starch and grape sugar were generally found. As to drinks, I have recently proved that most of the weak beers sold in the State contain salicylic acid in considerable amount. This is notably the case in a beer called " silica beer," which contains only about 1 per cent of alcohol.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
N. J. Baclieller, secretary to the governor of New Hampshire, writes March 27 :
We have no investigation on the subject of food, drugs, and liquors. A bill has; been introduced into our legislature providing for such, which is quite likely to be-- come a law.
NEVADA.
The State seems to be without law upon the subject, and no investi^ gatious have been made.
NEW JERSEY.
The work of protecting the people against fraud in their food prod- ucts in the State of New Jersey has been vigorously pushed, and the- different officers in charge of the work have been very energetic in the
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 29
discharge of their duties. The report of the commissioner, George W. McGuire, for 1890 shows that the total examinations made by the State analyst were 2,186, of which 468 articles were found to have been adul- terated. The summary is as follows :
Total percentage of adulteration, 21. 04
Percentage of drugs 40
Percentage of food 35. 6
Percentage of milk 8. 6
Below will be found extracts from Dr. McGuire's report. What he has to say upon the subject of drugs will be eagerly read by all inter- ested parties.
FOOD
In our iuspectiou of general food, we have found that most dealers show a readiness to conform to law. Most of the adulterated food products in onr market are brought from outside of the State.
At its session the legislature enacted a law to protect dealers in food and drugs by- warranty, valid only when received from persons residing within the State. It would be well, however, for all retailers to insist upon receiving the said warranty from wholesalers, whether within or without the State. By this much trouble to them would be avoided, besides showing their honesty of purpose.
The following is a copy of the enactment, also a form of the warranty which can be had at the office of the dairy commissioner :
Chapter XXXVI.
A SUPPLEMENT to an act entitled "An act to prevent the adulteration of food or drugs," approved March, twenty-fifth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, and the several suppleuiciits thereto.
Be it enacfed hy the senate and general assemhly of the State of New Jersey, That any person accused before any court of selling, or offering for sale any article adulterated within the meaning of the act to which this is a supplement, and the supplement thereto, who shall prove that he procured such article under a warranty from any person or persons that reside within the State in the form, hereafter set forth, that said article was pure and unadulterated within the meaning of said acts, said person shall be discharged from prosecution : Provided^ That such proof in defense shall be tiled in court prior to the trial of such case.
Sec. 2. That no warranty shall be considered as within the meaning of this act nnless in the form hereinafter given, and unless the article or articles warranted shall be specifically named and described in the body of said warranty ; and no war- ranty shall be a defense if the person offering it shall have been notified, prior to the sale complained of, that the articles mentioned in said warranty are adulterated within the meaning of said acts.
Sec. 3. That any person uttering or giving a false warranty, or swearing falsely in relation thereto, shall be guiltj^ of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment at hard labor for not more than one year, at the discretion of the court.
Sec. 4. That the warrantj?^ herein provided for shall be in the form following, to wit :
WARRANTY.
It is hereby warranted that the following article or articles are pure and
unadulterated within the meaning of the acts of the legislature of the State of New Jersey regulating the sale of food or drugs. (Signature)
Dated at , this day of , anno domini .
Sec. 5. That this act shall take effect immediately.
30 EXTENT AXD CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
By a reference to the list of articles analyzed it will be noticed thatthe largest per- centage of adulteration is in coffee, spices, Tinegar, molasses, and jellies.
Ground coifee, as a rule, is always more or less adulterated, commonly with chicory, frequently with roasted beans, peas, cereals, etc.
In ready-package form it is largely adulterated, perhaps for the reason that the deception is less noticeable than in the bean. We have sometimes found such marked "coffee mixture," also ''rye coffee." Whether this was intended to suggest ''rio" to the purchaser can not be said. It was purely what it claimed to be, containing nothing more or less than roasted and ground rye.
During the early part of the year, and before my appointment, the market was flooded with bogus coffee, found to be nothing more than flour pressed into the shape and colored to the shade of the coffee berry. So well was it made to resemble the genuine article that when mixed with 50 per cent of coffee it was easily palmed off on the public for pure unadulterated coffee. Its sale was entirely suppressed by the former commissioner, Dr. Newton, whose full account of the transaction will be found in this report.
There is perhaps no commodity that carries a heavier weight of acception most unobservable to the casual buyer than spices, and no one receives the practical dis- advantage of this more than the observing housewife. Grocers are often persuaded to buy goods of this character by the A^ery flattering inducements offered them in the way of receiving valuable presents on bills of large amounts, etc. It is needless to say that this class of goods is always found to be of inferior quality.
The large percentage of adulteration in vinegar, as it is at present found on the market, is due no doubt to the more or less failure of the apple cio]) during the last two or three years. Of the 154 samples of this article purchased for cider vinegar 84 were found below the State standard of 4.50 per cent acetic acid, and 36 were not cider vinegar at all. The adulteration is by means of water, no foreign acids having been detected. The imitation cider vinegar is simply weak acetic acid colored.
There is no difiiculty whatever for grocers to obtain pure cider vinegar, since re- sponsible dealers will give a guaranty and the imitation is a fraud on those engaged in the manufacture of the genuine article.
The State standard is low as to per cent. No cider vinegar will fall as low, and when it reaches 3 percent., as a number of samples show, there can be no doubt that water has been added. It is my intention during the coming year to proceed against this fraudulent traffic and compel more honest measures.
The cheap jellies, jams, and preserves so largely sold may all be classed as fraudii- lent, since very few of them contain a particle of the fruit under which name they are sold, being in nearly all cases simply apple pomace flavored and colored to imi- tate the fruit desired.
During the encampment of the national guard at Sea Girt we gave the food sup- ply a thorough inspection and found it to be pure and wholesome. The milk, which was used in large quantities, was of a high grade.
DRUGS.
The examination of drugs has received a considerable share of our attention and expenditure, with what improvement in the same the flgures below will show. Last year the adulteration in drugs was found to be 65 per cent. This year the average, as will be seen by the analyst's report, is 40 per cent, showing a marked improve- ment, brought about without resorting to prosecution, except in the latter part of the year, of which I shall speak further on.
Those figures do not represent the actual ratio of adulteration, but only of those drugs most liable to suspicion.
Our method has been to send warning notices to oftending druggists that a repe- tition of an offense would be visited by a prosecution, and to learn how effectual this
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 31
system would prove has been our object this year. On the whole it has proved satisfactory, as has been shown.
During the latter part of the year samples of certain drilgs were collected by the inspectors, and on analysis were found so far below the United States Pharmacopoeia standard of strength and purity that I proceeded against the offenders. Of these samples two were tincture opium, the average strength of which should be 6 grains of morphia to the ounce. One sample contained but 0.955 grains and the other 1.13 grains. At the trial the druggist claimed that the opium from which the tinc- ture was made had been purchased from a reputable firm and that the tincture was made according to the formula of the United States Pharmacopoeia. The analyses showed the opium used to have been previously exhausted, such as is known to the trade as " Boston opium." Precaution was taken to secure these samples on prescrij)- tions, as the plea is often made by pharmacists that they keep two kinds of lauda- num, one to be disposed of only on a physician's order, the other to sell in a commer- cial way, principally to persons addicted to the opium habit. The United States Pharmacopoeia requires that tincture opium shall be made from the powdered drug of standard strength. This can be had from any reputable drug firm with the assay printed on the label and guaranteed, and how these experienced druggists could be so duped by this very reputable firm, or how, being so familiar with the true ai)pearanco of the finished tincture, they could dispense this liquid without a suspicion is oue of those mysterious cases with which we occasionally meet. However this may be, a severe penalty should be imposed upon any pharmacist who is guilty, whether from incompetency or mercenary motives, of olispensing so debased an article when a human life may depend upon its action.
The cases above referred to are still pending in the courts.
The Pharmacopoeia requires that tincture nux vomica shall contain 2 per cent dry extract. Four samples of this drug out of those collected were found to contain re- spectively 0.678, 0.712, 0.618, and 1.075 per cent. This discrepancy between the actual and required figures I considered sufficient to warrant legal prosecution. The claim made by two of the defendants before the trial was that their tincture had been pre- pared for a certain "standard" fluid extract, which they were led to believe would procure a United States Pharmacopoeia tincture, but recognizing they had failed to meet the intent of the law, pleaded guilty to the charge and paid the costs of court, etc
The manufacturers of the above preparations state that in order to meet the re- quirements of the law their fluid extract in future shall contain not only alkaloidal strength but shall possess the amount of dry extract required by law. No explanation was made by the other two defendants until the day of trial, when they stated that their tinctures had been made from aso-termed " normal liquid" having on the printed label a formula, which, by following, the manufacturers claim, a United Stated Phar- macopoeia tincture would be obtained containing 25 per cent of alkaloids. The claim made by the proprietors of the article in question that a superior tincture can be had by adopting their formula, inasmuch as it contained the full alkaloidal strength of the drug, free from what they term its inert substance, led me to submit afejtv questions to a number of prominent physicians, chemists, and pharmacists as to the therapeuti- cal value of the nonalkaloidal portions of nux vomica and whether or not a tincture containing 0.25 per cent alkaloids and 0.4 nonalkaloids would meet the intent and spirit of the United States Pharmacopoeia.
The answers received were divided as to opinion, some indorsing the manufactur- ers' view, more opposing it on the ground that as no certain determination of the therapeutical value of the nonalkaloid portions of the drug had yet been made, it was unwise as well as unlawful to deviate from the pharmacopoeial formula, and that a tincture such as referred to clearly does not meet the intent and spirit of the pharmacopoeia. Be this as it may, it seems clear that the formulators of the pre- scribed method laid down in the United States Pharraacopcea for the preparation of tincture nux yomica must have recognized the therapeutical value of the extractive
32 EXTENT AND CHARACTEE OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
matter iii the drug, and that it lias a defined pliysiological action I believe most Ijhysicians will agree. Otherwise tincture mix vomica may as well be taken out of the medical books, and when the action of the drug is desired the physician can pre- scribe strychnia, which the druggist will find much more convenient to dispense.
The principle of having a definite strength for the most important drugs is un- doubtedly a good one. and the publicity given to the above cases will in all probabil- ity result in good, since the United States Pharmacopoeia is now in course of revision and the attention of those engaged in this work has been called to the fact that many of the most deadly poisons have no definite strength laid down.
While the United States Pharmacopoeia is not only the standard text-book of the druggist, but also the legal guide by which he must be governed in this State in dispensing his officinal preparations. I shall endeavor to compel a compliance there- with.
Dr. Lewis Balcli, Albany, secretary State board of health of New York, promptly complied with request to supply reports of his State. To show how varied and extensive the articles examined were found to be adulterated, the following extracts from these very able documents, under the heading of adulteration :
Prof. F. A. Hennessey, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., directs attention to an article in the American Journal of Pharmacy on "A new spice adulterant." This matter is more fully treated elsewhere. Prof. G. C. Caldwell, professor of chemistry, Cornell, and public analyst, repotts : Coffee and tea (the adulterant in coffee is chicory): quinine pills and capsules — morphine pills and tablets ; citrate of iron and quinine — tincture of opium. Xo adulterants used, but simply deficient in strength in case of portion of samples ex- amined. The extent of those adulterations will be more fully treated in another part of this report in extracting from Prof. CaldweJl's report to the New York State board.
The ^^ew York State board of health uses the following classifica- tions (see pp. 451 and 452 of report for 1890) :
Samples are classed as of good quality when they fulfill the requirements of the United States Pharmacopoeia or fall below the same only in some trifling and unim- portant respect ; of fair quality if, while not fully up to the Pharmacopceial standard, they are evidently neither intentionally adulterated nor decidedly below such stand- ard; and of inferior "quality if clearly adulterated or falsified, lacking in any im- portant constituent, deficient in strength from improper manufacture, partial or complete decomposition, or other causes, or containing an undue amount of impurity, In some cases, through ignorance or intent, a wrong article has been sold or some inferior article of a nature similar to that called for has been substituted, and such samples have been classed under the head, "Xot as called for."
On page 455 of same report will be found the following summary ot results of analyses made during the year:
Of the 532 samples examined, there were classed as of—
NEW YORK.
Good quality
Fair quality
Inferior quality . . . Not as called for... Excessive strength Fictitious
No. Per cent, 233, or 43. 8 54, or 10.2 130, or 24. 4 33, or 6.2 24, or 4.5 58, or 10. 9
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADUi/fERATIONS. 33
Mr. F. B. Thurber, of New York, and one of tbe most active and earnest friends of national pure-food legislation, writes at some length, giving a description of the causes that have led up to the present pure- food agitation. He opposes " special," but warmly advocates general'' legislation. Among other things he says :
En passan t I would call your attention to tbe valuable auxiliary you bave in repu- table manufacturers and dealers who, as you will see, bave been trying to raise tbe standard of our food supply, and bave already made strenuous efforts to tbis end. Tbe result of tbeir experience has been tbat tbey need official investigation and publicity to back tbem up, and tben tbey can make beadway against tbeir unscrupu- lous competitors. But if a dealer in pure goods analyzes and exposes tbe cbaracter of a competitor's goods, tbe cry is at once raised of self-interest, and tbe exposure does not carry witb it tbe same weigbt tbat an official examination and exposure would.
It will not need much effort on tbe part of tbe public officers if we cau only get official investigation and publicity. Tbe force of competition will do tbe rest. Tbe beaviest penalty wbicb an adulterator can bave visited upon bim is publicity, be- cause it means failure to impose upon tbe public.
While there are some pbases of tbe question tbat are only to be dealt witb by State legislation, yet tbere is need of a national anti-adulteration law wbicb will apj)ly to interstate commerce. Wbile tbere is no doubt but wbat tbe popular im- pression is largely exaggerated as to tbe percentage of adulteration in tbe food sup- ply, tbat is, injuriously adulterated, still tbere is enougb and more tbau enougb tbat is a fraud upon tbe pocket to justify national legislation on tbis subject.
Mr. Barrett, editor of the American Grocer, in letters to the De- partment and to Mr. F. B. Thurber, makes some valuable suggestions, but which could not be carried out to the extent required unless much more liberal appropriations were made by Congress. The chemical division in charge of this work has, through its chief. Dr. Wiley, been engaged to a limited extent in investigations such as both Mr. Bar- rett and Mr. Thurber suggests, viz, in purchasing supplies of various food products on the open market in all parts of the country, and hav- ing them analyzed when purchased by the most eminent chemists to be found. Undoubtedly this should be done by Congress in every State of the Union, but when the investigation is made and the fraud proven, as is being done by the national and State investigations, what profits it unless restraints are put upon manufacturers and venders of this class of goods'?
The canned-goods (to which both gentlemen especially refer) indus- try is one of great and increasing importance, and if there is no dan- ger in them, certainly this great industry could do much to secure the passage of a general anti-adulteration law which would prove the fact to the world.
Mr. Barrett suggests the investigation of the nutritive value of arti- ficial foods, such as oleomargarine and glucose. He adds : I believe attention should be paid to the nutritive value of baking powders." In conclusion Mr. Barrett regrets the absence of American literature on the subject of adulterations, the greater portion of what we have 19150— No. 32 3
34 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
being a rehash of foreign works, and which are wholly inapplicable to the conditions existing here. The best work thus far has been done under the auspices of the Chemical Division of the Department of Agri- culture, and embraced in the various bulletins issued by them." Mr. Barrett inclosed two valuable and interesting articles, one on adultera- tions and the other on the bills before Congress, from which extracts are made.
In the articles mentioned Mr. Barrett says :
It seems as if the interests of the consumer are made subordinate to those of pro- ducers and manufacturers. All that consumers demand is, that they shall be made acquainted with the true name and nature of all articles of food and drugs ofiered for sale, and they be left free to use whatever they choose, whether it is axle grease, butter, or oleomargarine. They want to know if baking powder contains cream of tartar or alum ; if salad oil is made from the olives or cotton seed. They also want a bill to prevent the misbranding of food and drugs and to prohibit absolutely the sale of all articles of food containing any poisonous substance or any article injurious to health. The German is fond of chicory, and there can be no reasonable objection to a mixture of coffee with chicory or with other harmless vegetable substances. And yet, unless these mixtures are sold for what they are, a fraud is perpetrated upon all who purchase,
A general act should contain an ironclad definition of adulterp,.4on covering every known manner of the sophistication, imitation, or adulteration of food and drugs, and be accompanied by a section providing that certain articles, mixtures, or compounds not prejudicial to health, and properly labeled as such, maybe sold when permission is granted b}^ the Department charged with the execution of the act.
Articles suspected of being adulterated should be analyzed by Government chemists, and when found injurious to health the result of the analysis should be made public, for publicity is one of the greatest of safeguards against the sale of adulterated food.
The bills now before Congress are loaded with details and some so burdened that their execution is impracticable. Experience has demonstrated that existing adul- terations in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred are a crime against the purse and not against the person. Chemistry has given us many useful compounds which are nutritious and cheap. And yet the law* taxes these heavily merely to benefit a class. Such special legislation is obnoxious and against the spirit of our institutions. Let us have fair play and not a national act which imposes burdens upon a few, dis- credits valuable food products, and adds to the oppressions of taxation.
In his article on adulteration the writer says :
ADULTERATION.
Easy as it may seem to define the word adulteration satisfactorily, it is extremely difficult. The use of the word in connection with food conveys to the minds of the majority of consumers the idea of something that is prejudicial to health. With some the word adulteration is the synonym for poison. We appreciate the force of the statement made by a physician in discussing the subject, that "the villainies of diet are numerous." We recognize also that there is ^orce in his declaration that "adul- teration seems to be almost a characteristic of civilization." The legal definition, as found in the laws of New York and other States and in several of the bills pending in Congress, applies to every article sold for food or drink by man. In the case of food or drink, it declares an article adulterated within the meaning of this act —
*The writer evidently referred to a bill (presented in the Fiftieth Congress) which proposed taxing every article of food product, which was not even considered by the committee to which it was referred.
EXTENT AXD CHAUACTEE OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
35
(1) If auy substance or substances has or have been mixed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength.
(2) If any inferior or cheaper substance or substances have been substituted wholly or in part for the article.
(8) If any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.
(4) If it be an imitation of or sold under the name of another article.
(5) If it consist Avholly or in part of a diseased or decomposed, or putrid or rotten, animal or vegetable substance, whether manufactured or not, or in the case of milk, if it is the produce of a diseased animal.
(6) If it be colored, or coated, or polished, or powdered, whereby damage is con- cealed, or it is made to appear better than it really is, or of greater value.
(7) If it contains any added poisonous ingredient or any ingredient which may ren- der such article injurious to the health of a person consuming it :
The above is a broad, and comprehensive definition of what adulteration is at the present time, and if the laws against adulterated food and drink were enforced strictly on the lines of the above definition, it would work very great injury to the j)eople and the manufacturers and dealers in food products. Therefore, very wisely, the law makes certain provisions as follows :
Provided, That the State board of health may, with the approval of the governor, from time to time declare certain articles or preparations to be exempt from the pro- visions of this act : And provided f urther, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to mixtures or compounds recognized as ordinary articles of food, provided that the same are not injurious to health and that the articles are distinctly labeled as a mixture, stating the components of the mixture.
Sec. 4. It shall be the dut}^ of the State board of health to prepare and publish from time to time, lists of the articles, mixtures, or compounds declared to be exempt from the provisions of this act in accordance with the preceding section. The State board of health shall also from time to time fix the limits of variability permissible in any article of food or drug, or compound, the standard of which is not established by any national pharmacopoeia.
The extent of food adulteration is by no means so great as it seems. Assuming that the minimum cost of feeding an individual is no more than the average cost of main- taining a pauper at a public institution, say $2 per week, we find that the sixty mil- lion people of the United States will consume not less than five thousand million dollars worth of food per annum. The question as to the integrity of the food supply becomes a very important one. All are agreed as to the declaration of one writer that "ihe prosperity of the nation depends upon the health and morals of its citizens ; that the health and morals of the people depend largely upon the food they eat ; that wholesome and palatable food is the first step ; that good morals is conducive to busi- ness, skill in trade, and a healthy tone in literature. " The question remains as to the extent of food adulteration. Fortunately, regarding this matter, we have amass of evidence which when sifted proves conclusively that " practically there is no such thing as adulteration of articles of food as a sanitary question ; " a belief which finds indorsement in all official reports on the subject.
Some recognize that there is a sanitary aspect to the subject, because facts demon- strate that the health of the people is put in peril by reason of impure meat, milk, and water. There is no doubt that these three cause more deaths in a year than are due directly or indirectly to the use of alcoholic stimulants.
Speaking of the pigments used by candy manuf-ecturers, he continues : True, they are used in very minute quantities, but there is no doubt that the injection into the system of poisonous articles, even in doses very much more minute than a medicinal dose, is, in the long run, bound to work injury to the individual. Then we recognize that certain classes of people are fond of chicory in their coffee, and, it being harm- less, is used as is other vegetable matter to make a mixture called coffee, but which often contains very little of the true article.
36 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
The use of bakiug powders as a matter of household conveuieuce has come into general practice, and in order to make these it is necessary to introduce a neutral article, such as rice or starch, in order to prevent the premature action of the acid or soda. While these are perfectly legitimate they open the door for the fraudulent dealer to carry on his scheme of plunder.
Thus various difficulties are met. The moment that every consumer is made ac- quainted with the true name and nature of any article of food or drink offered for sale, he may be at liberty to use any sort of food or drink ho pleases, but upon his own responsibility.
In one of Mr. Barret's letters lie makes use of the following lan- guage :
Water is free. Therefore it is the easiest and readiest adulterant of alcoholic liquors. It is a question whether the water does not render it more injurious to man, in that the water acts as a carrier for the alcohol, causing it to act with more rapidity.
NORTH CAROLINA.
Director H. B. Battle, of the North Carolina Experiment Station, says : " We have no such laws specially relating to the subject of adul- teration of food, drugs, and liquors."
OHIO.
Dairy and Food Commissioner Edward Betbel made a valuable and extended report to the governor of Ohio, February 7, 1891, Irom which the following extracts are taken. Ten thousand copies of the report were printed and distributed to manufacturers and dealers of food and drug supplies :
If this circular did not propose or promise to do more than the legislature had pro- vided the means of doing, complainants will have to look for the grounds of their grievances in the inadequate provision made by that body in its appropriation bills. The mere enactment of laws, without the means of enforcing their execution, is of little or no effect.
So far as it has been within the legal power and authority of my assistants and my- self to reach and enforce the food laws, the known violators have been prosecuted.
In speaking of lard, he says:
Consumers should look well to the sort of stuff they are purchasing in packers' l:ird. They had better buy and use no lard but such as they know was made in the country near home, or in rendering establishments known to be clean.
Of 437 samples of lard purchased and analyzed by direction of the State board of health of New Jersey in the year 1880, 274 were found composed of hog fat, and all others, 163 in number, were found adulterated with beef fat, cotton-seed oil, acd beef stearine.
Violation of food laws are misdemeanors and are punishable as such. Like all other misdemeanors they are matters subject to be brought by any citizen to the at- tention and action of the grand jury.
WINES.
The law to regulate the manufacture and sale of compounded wines, and to pro- hibit the manufacture or sale of adulterated wines within the State of Ohio, makes the manufacture or sale of adulterated wines a misdemeanor, punishable by a line of not less than $200 nor more than !$1,000, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a
EXTEXT AND CHARACTEE OF FOOD ADtXTERATIOXS. 37
term of not less than thirty days nor more tban six months, or by both such tine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court, and with liability to a j^enalty of 81 for each gallon thereof sold, otiered for sale, or manufactured, together with forfeiture and destruction of the article. My attention has been especially called to the alleged adulteration of wines in the northwestern part of the State, and I have been requested to institute prosecutions agaiost the alleged offenders. This complaint extends to the whole wine-producing district of that section. The legal remedy for such wide- spread evil in adulterated wine is provided by the law within each county. The law expressly says: "All penalties imposed by this act may be recovered, with costs of action, by any person in his own name, before any justice of the peace in the county where the oft'euse was committed, where the amount does not exceed the jurisdiction of such justice; and such penalties maybe recovered in the like manner in any court of record in the State. It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorneys of the respec- tive counties of this State, and they are hereby required, to prosecute or commence actions in the name of the State of Ohio for the recovery of the penalties allowed herein, upon receiving information thereof ; and in all actions brought by such prose- cuting attorneys, one-half of the penalty reco%^ered shall belong to and be paid over to the person or persons giving the information upon which the action is brought." It is plain from this quotation that the wine law does not make the dairy and food com- missioner the informer or prosecuting witness in such cases, but that any citizen or prosecuting attorney may prosecute alleged offenders.
VINEGAR.
Pure cider vinegar, or fermented apple juice, is the only article allowed by law to be manufactured, sold, or otfered for sale as vinegar in this State, All cider vinegar made by other than domestic makers is lequired to be branded "cider vinegar," on each cask, barrel, or keg, with the name and residence of the manufacturer, and the date of its manufacture. T have inspected a number of the articles on sale as vinegar by sundry retail dealers in the city of Columbus, and found, by the chem- ist's analysis, that many samples sold as " vinegar " were spurious or adulterated. The dealers, I was convinced, were innocent of any intentional fraud in the matter, being unaware of the real character of the substance they were dealing in as vinegar. In each of such instances the article was either returned to the wholesale dealer, or destroyed, at the loss of the party having it in stock, I believe there is now compar- atively little adulterated vinegar being kept on sale in Columbus.''
MAPLE SIRUP,
This popular local product and delicious sweet is an object of adulteration and imitation to a remarkable extent. This result is largely the fault of purchasers themselves. I know of parties having made an excellent article of maple sirup, free from any adulteration, who visited dealers in Columbus and other cities, offering to sell their goods at 75 cents a gallon — a very reasonable price ; but the dealers declined to buy from theni, saying they could buy "maple sirup" for 55 cents a gallon, and that upon the latter, though not so pure and good, they could make more profit than they could on the genuine product. Thus, the true maple sirup and sugar makers, in such case, would have to submit to a loss, of over 26 per cent, at which rate the total loss on the whole amount of maple sirup made in the State would amount to about $120,000.
fl. H. Hyman, assistant commissioner, iu his report furnishes the following :
With pleasure I state that I have had very few prosecutions to make, as, with proper instructions on the part of the commission, most dealers are making an earn- est effort to i^lace only pure goods on sale.
38 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
The greatest difficulty to contend witli is in articles of food and drugs manufac- tured outside of Ohio.
I have avoided, as much as possible, cause for being charged with persecution in the discharge of my duties, as I realize how easy it is for small dealers to be imposed upon.
The number of prosecutions is not as large as it might have been had I been desirous of prosecuting every technical violation of the law that has come to my notice ; desir- ing only to prosecute where violations were willful, and required in the interest and well-being of the community, or to uphold the dignity of the law.
Final issue in cases is often delayed on grounds sufficient to the court, and based upon facts beyond the control of the commission.
I have discovered that in many cases prejudice against tlie commission, or sympathy for the offender, prevails against overwhelming evidence of guilt, and verdicts of ac- quittal are sometimes given accordingly.
The same gentleman suggests confiscation of all adulterated goods improperly branded as a means of making tradesmen more careful.
Also, an amendment to the act to prevent fraud in cauned goods; that all articles intended for food or ingredients of food put up in tin shall have the month and year of canning stamped in the tin, and that any goods exposed or offered for sale without beiug so stamped should be subject to destruction by the commissioner or his assist- ants, provided the same could be coustitutionally doae.
Speaking of the enforcement of the la\YS in his district, Mr. Hymau itemizes as follows :
MILK.
During the past six months I have had inspected samples and generally found them of standard quality. Whenever creamery men remove any part of the cream from the milk they handle, they are very careful to have the milk up to the require- ments of the statute when delivered to the customer. In most cases the adulteration is made after the milk reaches the street vender.
I am satisfied that more attention by dairymen should bo given to the care of milk before it reaches the consumer, with a view to keeping everything clean and neat. The place where the milk is kept should have plenty of pure air, and be removed far enough from the stable and barnyard not to retain any of the odors.
Too much care can not be taken in keeping clean the utensils connected with the dairy. The cans in which the milk is shipped or carried should be thoroughly cleansed and scalded each time they are emptied, before refilling.
CHEESE.
The cheese interests of this district are in fair shape. There is apparently an hon- est and earnest efibrt on the part of most manufacturers to make clean, honest goods. Most of the ''filled" cheese in the market is shipped in from other States, and wher- ever found I have notified the dealer, who has desisted from placing any more of it on sale, but he is the one who had to sufier the loss, as in most cases it had been paid for when delivered.
VINEGAR.
The vinegar law in this district is very generally complied with. I find grocers are very particular in purchasing to see that the product is all right; also, that m the quality of the vinegar offered for sale there is a marked improvement. Hardly any but fruit vinegar has been sold in this market.
MAPLE SIRUP.
The law governing maple sirup has been lived up to almost without a single excep- tion in this district. In fact, I have not received a single complaint in regard to any violation of the same.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 39
CANDY.
I can safely say that the statute governing the adulteration of candy has not been violated by the manufacturers in this district.
This is due in a great measure to the action of reputable manufacturers entirely dis- carding the use of anything in the way of adulterants, the rules of the Candy Man- ufacturers' Association, of which they are members, inflicting heavy fines and penal- ties on any member making anything but straight goods.
COFFEE AND SPICES.
The greatest fraud and deception now practiced in the market is in coffees and spices. They are placed on the market by unscrupulous manufacturers in connec- tion with gift enterprises. I have now in the hands of Prof. Rosewater, State chem- ist for this district, several samples of this miserable stuff, and have already learned enough from him to enable me to commence and successfully prosecute the parties putting these goods on sale, which duty I shall perform when I receive his official report.
In conclusion, the larger number of tradesmen and dairymen in this district are honorable in their dealings, with no apparent intention to deceive their customers or violate the laws. There are a few, however, who, for profit's sake, would adulterate everything they sold, were it not for fear of the law and its execution.
It is a singular fact that there are to be found men who earnestly demanded the enactment of the oleomargarine and pure-food laws, and who are now screaming themselves hoarse for the rigid enforcement of same, who would not hesitate to adul- terate their own products by every means possible.
Mr. P. McKeowu, assistant commissioner, Cincinnati, says :
The vinegar manufacturers havingthoroughly realized the salutary effects designed by the passage of the " pure vinegar law," are according a most commendable com- pliance to its requirements, and on this score no complaint is to be found.
In view of the fact that the interests of Cincinnati, relative to the quality of milk prepared for delivery to consumers, is looked after by the health department of tbe city, I deemed it unnecessary to give this matter that attention which I otherwise should. However, the vigorous and determined warfare inaugurated last spring by the health department, under the supervision of its excellent and efficient head, Dr. Preudergast, looking to the correction of the abuses and impositions practiced by un- scrupulous dairymen in the character of the milk they sold for family use, can not be too highly indorsed. It is gratifying to note, as a result of this crusade against filthy and wretchedly managed dairies, that a decided and material improvement is now apparent in the character of the milk that supplies this market.
I am now engaged in trying to enforce " the pure food law," which went into effect September 1. To this end I have visited the leading grocery and drug firms here, and placed them in possession of a copy of the law, urging upon them the consequences of its violation. Further than this I have done nothing. It is a pity that this law, aiming as it does, to accomplish such laudable and meritorious ends, and to correct the long existing evils and deleterious effects of adulterated foods, can not be enforced, owing in large measure to the limited means at our disposal. You doubtless are aware that the last general assembly which passed the law, made no pecuniary pro- vision for its enforcement.
The competition of manufacturers in outside States is another factor which should not be lost sight of, and one whi:h much hampers the law's efficiency. For, with no restrictions placed upon the goods prepared by them, it is very evident that the home manufacturer has to cope for success under peculiar and unjustifiable disadvantages. Fearless and energetic federal legislation, coupled with a reasonable appropriation by the State, is, in my opinion, required to make the law a success. The enactment
40
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
of such a law by Congress would go very far to obviate the difficulties which now beset this commission in securing a rigid enforcement of the pure-food law, and it is to be hoped that the National House of Representatives, in their wise judgment, may quickly see fit to frame so desirable and valuable a measure of legislation.
The State chemist for Ohio reports 105 analyses ; amoug these the most iuteiesting were the following :
Examinations for poisons in cheese (tyrotoxicou) failed to discover any of the poison.
The conclusions derived from the analysis are :
(1) That the Prussian-blue reaction is caused by the presence of an organic base, probably an amine.
(2) That the carbolic-acid reaction is due to butyric acid.
(3) That when both bodies are present in the same liquid both are extracted with ether from an altraliue solution, probably in the form of a butyrate of the organic base.
(4) That both bodies are liable to occur in any old specimen of cheese, milk, or cream.
(5) That the presence of these two bodies causes artificial diazobenzole to give the orange-red reaction with carbolic acid, after being extracted from whey with ether which it does not give before.
CANNED GOODS,
An exhaustive investigation was made of the i;ondition of foods packed in tin cans, including fruits, vegetables, fish, and condensed milk. The investigation was sug- gested by a case of poisoning reported from Mansfield, in which canned pumpkin was alleged to have been the cause. With the exception of the condensed milk every article examined was contaminated with salts of tin. In most cases the amount of tin present was so large that there can be no doubt of danger to health from the con- sumption of the food, especially if several kinds are consumed at the same meal. The goods were bought in open market as ofl:ered for sale, and no pains were taken to procure old samples Since the completion of the work several other similar cases of poisoning have been reported.
The analyses are given in full and consist of the following :
ARTICLES CANNED.
Pumpkins, three samples ; blackberries, salmon, pineapple, each two samples, and one each of squash, tomatoes, "petite pois," "champignons de choix," blueberries, sweet corn, Bartlett x^ears, peaches, red cherries, baked sweet potatoes, peas, string beans, and condensed milk. The samples, according to brand, came from Ohio, Michigan, New York, Bordeaux, France, Paris, New Brunswick, Oregon, California, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, and \Yyoming, showing a pretty extended scope of territory.
The amount of tin found ran from 3.0 to 4.20 grains to the pound. Eleven samples contained less than 1 grain to the pound. Five samples eoutaiued betw*een 1 and 2 grains. Five samples showed between 2 and 3 grains and the remaining two samples contained 3.11 and 4.20 grains.
COFFEE.
Five samples of ground coffee were examined — all adulterated. As curiosities they are given in full :
No. 600. Ash, 4.16; chicory and barley, 33i ; peas, 33^; coffee 33^ per cent. No. 609. Ash, 4.43 ; coftee, 25 ; chicory, 6; rye 69 per cent. No. 610. Ash, 4.33; coffee, 25; chicory, 10 ; peas, 25 ; rye, 40 per cent. No. 611. Ash, 6.70; cofiee, 90; chicory and cedar wood, about 10. No. 612. Ash, 4.20; coffee, 5; chicory, 5; peas, 8; rye with another substance not determined, 82 per cent.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 41
LARD BLEACHERS AND SAUSAGE PRESERVATIVES.
Serial No. 60C. Sample of lard bleacher received of Edward Bethel^ November 30, 1890. Sent by B. A. Stevens, Toledo, Ohio, Labeled, the best lard bleacher and purifier, Wolf, Sayer &, Heller, Chicago, 111.
Tin can of 132 grams, about one-fourth pound, 25 cents per can for 30 gallons lard. This sample was found to be granulated caustic soda; price 11 cents per pound.
Serial No. 607. Sample of lard bleacher received of Edward Bethel, November 30, 18U0, Sent by B. A. Stevens, Toledo, Ohio ; labeled, Snow White," S. Oppenheimer, Chicago, 111. Tin can, 172 grams, about one-third pound, for 45 gallons lard.
Boracic acid 10.86
Borax 47.12
Salt 41. 13
Serial No. 608. Sample of Preservative," received of Edward Bethel, November 20, 1890. Sent by B, A. Stevens, Toledo, Ohio, Wolf, Sayer & Heller, Chicago, 111. Marked, B. Savaliue, 1 pound, 16 cents; pink-colored salt.
Boracic acid 16.26
Salt 83.74
Color cochineal.
THE ACTION OF FOOD PRESERVATIVES ON SALIVARY DIGESTION.
On account of the prevalent use of borax, boracic acid, salicylic acid, and other antiseptics for the preservation of foods and drinks, the following investigation made in the laboratory of the writer by Mr. C. P. Fox will be of general interest. The analytical data are omitted for want of space. The method and conclusions alone will be given. The work covered the effect of salicylic acid, borax, sulphite of lime, and saccharine upon the salivary digestion of starch. No attention was given here to any deleterious therapeutic action of the drug in question.
The following method was adopted and strictly adhered to ; the same conditions being observed in all cases.
One gram of the starch mixture was weighed off, transferred to a flask (250 cc. capacity), 10 cc. water added, and the mixture boiled for five minutes; 5 cc. of water added and the contents cooled to 40"^ C; 5 cc. of freshly secreted saliva is added and the flask shaken until the contents are thoroughly mixed, then placed in the oven and kept at the temperature of 40° C. for the required time.
On removing from the oven the action of the saliva was stopped by boiling. TI;e contents of the flask were washed into a graduated cylinder, the solution rendered alkaline with sodium hydrate, and made up to 100 cc. The amount of grape sugar in this solution was determined with Fehliug's solution.
Although the action of the saliva begins in the mouth, and the greater part of its work is done there, yet there is no reason why the process could not be carried on in the stomach.
For this reason the action was studied by leaving the starch and saliva in contact for ditterent lengths of time ; the periods being one, five, fifteen, thirty, and sixty minutes. While the hour test may be unnecessary, yet it is better to give the pre- servative every possible chance that its friends claim for it.
CONCLUSIONS.
The conclusions to be drawn from the results of these experiments are :
(1) That the use of salicylic acid, borax, sulphite of lime, and saccharine in the proportion of 1 part to ^ffo ^ood is not detrimental to the process of salivary di- gestion.
(2) That the use of the above preservatives in proportion of 1 part to 1,050 parts of
42 EXTENT AND CHAEACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
food shows uo hindrance of the function, nnless in case of borax, where there is a slight indication.
(3) That the use of the preservatives, salicylic acid and borax, in proportion of 1 part to 840 parts of food, shows a decided check of the action in the one-minute, five- niiuute and fifteen-minute tests, but disappears in the thirty and sixty minute trials.
(4) That where they are present in proportion of 1 part to 420 parts of food, the one-minute test shows that uo sugar was formed where sg^licyiic acid and saccharin Avere used, and only a trace where borax was present.
Five-minute test. — No sugar formed in the test with salicylic acid saccharin ; an increase of sugar in the borax test. Fifteen-minute test. — No change from five-minute test.
Thirty -7ninute test. — No sugar in the salicylic acid and saccharin trials ; the dif- ference between starch and the borax test has disappeared.
Sixty-mimde trial. — No sugar in the salicylic acid and saccharin tests. The borax remains about the same as in the thirty-minute trial.
(5) When the preservatives are present in the proportion of 1 part to 210 parts of food, the entire action of the saliva is, without exception, suspended for five min- utes. At fifteen minutes borax hinders the action. At thirty minutes borax still retards the action. At sixty minutes the digestive action is still checked slightly by borax. At the end of this period not a trace of sugar could be found in the trials WMth salicylic acid and saccharine. By inspection of these results, it will be seen that salicylic acid is the most dangerous of all the preservatives experimented with. Saccharin comes next and is nearly as strong. Borax is third, and sulphite of lime last. It will be seen that the safety limit for salicylic acid and saccharin is 1 to 1,050 parts of food. Borax may be used in proportion of 1 part to 840 parts. Sul- phite of lime, 1 to 500 or 600 parts.
OREGON.
W. W. Baker, commissioner, writes :
I have been but thirty days in office. While I am satisfied that Oregon is a dump- ing ground, I have not had time to determine the extent of adulteration save in dairy products that have been imported here from other States. It is estimated that in the last six months some six carloads of oleomargarine have been imported into Portland.
PENNSYLVANIA.
H. D. Tate, esq., private secretary to the governor, writes as follows:
I am directed by Governor Pattison to state that upon receipt of the circular letter requesting information with regard to the adulteration of food, etc., each depart- ment under the State government was requested to furnish all the desired informa- tion in their ijossession. Inclosed herewith you will find reports made by them, and it is believed that these rej^orts cover the case fully as far as Penuyslvania is con- cerned.
Dr. Benjamin Lee, secretary State board of health, in letter to Mr. Tate says :
I have been in communication with the food analyst of the State board of agricul- ture on the subject. Unfortunately the appropriation to our board is so meager that we have never been able to institute the observation and experiments that we would like in reference to this very important matter.
Thomas Edge, secretary State board of agriculture, writes Goveriivor
Pattison and says :
Dr. Letfraan and Prof. C. B. Cochran, as microscopist and hygienists of our board, have made several examinations into the adulteration of food products and of milk,
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 43
but not haviug any funds for such a purpose under our control nothing of any great value has been accomplished. In our annual report for 1890, pp. 89-94, you will find a somewhat extended report on the milk supply of Philadelphia, by Prof. Cochran.
Dr. Alonzo Robbins, president of the pharmaceutical examiiiiDg board, Penusylvania, writes Mr. Tate:
I herewith iuclose copies of the report of the committee on adulterations of the Pennsylvania pharmaceutical association for the years 1889 and 1890, and also in- close a copy of a paper by Frank A. Hennessy on a new spice adulterant. This, I think, comprises all the investigations recently made in this State. Section 9 of the pharmacy act prohibits and provides a penalty for the adulteration of drugs and medicines, but the persons making the investigations recorded in the inclosed papers have been unwilling to go into court to testify. Recently, however, samples have been purchased and placed in the hands of an expert chemist for analysis ; if his report warrants prosecutions will be promptly instituted. I regret that from so abun- dant a field I have so little to report.
Dr. H. B. Donuell, State College, Pa., reports sample of cream of tartar branded " Pare Cream of Tartar, Philadelphia," to have con- tained calcium phosphate with some calcium sulphate. He adds that the adulterants are probably not injurious.
Hon. H. Wharton Amerliug, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Adulteration of Food, writes:
In accordance with your kindly request for information as to food adulteration would state that we have the honor to submit the results of some analyses of differ- ent articles of food made by chemist of our society in the year preceding May 1, 1891. The results show merely the average per cent of adulteration of the several articles of food named, as follows: Cream of tartar, 40 per cent ; low grades of sugar, 18 per cent ; olive oil, 54 per cent ; castor oil, 20 per cent ; ground pepper, in bulk, 60 percent; ground cinnamon, 54 per cent; ground ginger, 40 per cent; groundnut- megs, 50 per cent ; ground mace, 52 per cent; sirups, 30 per cent; milk, 40 per cent; beer, 40 per cent.
L. G. Groff, Lebanon, Pa., says :
The most injurious adulterant I now have in mind is that which has become well- nigh universal, of putting all the dust and dirt of all kinds removed from wheat into the bran and other feed products. This is a matter worth some attention.
Messrs. Powers & Weightman, Philadelphia manufacturing chem- ists, say :
There is no difficulty in procuring food, drugs, and liquors of the best quality in any city or town in the United States, provided there is a willingness to pay for them a just and proper price. If, on the other hand, consumers demand cheap goods, there are some, undoubtedly, who will adjust the goods to the price.
While there can be no doubt as to adulteration being carried on in all countries to a greater or less degree, we feel satisfied that the extent in this country has been greatly magnified and the trade grossly misrepresented.
If Messrs. Powers & Weightman are correct in their views of the matter, does it not show the absolute necessity for a law that will compel all who '^adjust their goods to the prices " to publish the fact to their customers ? The writer quite agrees with Mr. F. B. Thurber, of
44 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
New York, oii this subject that the reputable houses desire a just and equitable law aud would aid greatly in enforcing its provisions.
RHODE ISLAND.
Dr. Charles H. Fisher, secretary State board of health, writes as follows :
In reply to inquiries by circular of 19tli instant in regard to adulterations of food, drngSj or liquors, allow me to say that very little investigation bas been made in this State of the first two classes, because the legislature has not ^een fit to make an appropriation therefor. This board made use of what little funds it could spare in 1890 from its appropriation of $3,000, and in some previous years the inspector of milk of the city of Providence has made in limited numbers analyses of milk when brought to him for that purpose. Liquors have been analyzed only when they have been seized under supposed violation of law. The results of such investigations as this board has been able to make show that, taking all parts of the State, 57.14 per cent of milk examined was below the legal standard of 12 per cent solids and 2| per cent of fats. Some samples contained adventitious substances. Of a considerably large number of samples of milk analyzed by the recently appointed milk inspector of Providence City, I think he stated to me that 78 per cent was below the legal standard. Of the samples of molasses analyzed under the direction of the board and purchased in different sections of the State as best molasses, 1 sample only in every 8, or 12 per cent, was found to be true molasses.
Of vinegar, 5.5.17 per cent contained less than the legal standard of 2 per cent of vinegar solids or 4^ per cent of absolute acetic acid. Twenty-seven per cent of sam- ples was other than cider vinegar. No attempt was made, in any case of purchase of any and all samples, of obtaining other than the best goods. I had an anti-adul;eration bill before the legislature a year or more ago, but it was never reported back: from the committee to whom it was referred, alt^hongh several public hearings were given with general approval ; opposed only by paid legal counsel and one large dealer in milk, a member of the committee. I have been unable thus far this session to get a hearing upon the merits of the bill. It is based on the laws of Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. I would like a more extensive investigation of articles of food if means could be obtained. I would undertake to furnish samples of various articles for analysis by your Department if such an arrangement could be made.
The law referred to by Dr. Fisher, he states in a subsequent letter, was not passed by the legislature. Dr. Fisher, iu another letter, further says :
From circumstances within my knowledge I believe that frauds are perpetrated in the necessary articles of food in this State to the extent of $1 per annum in the con- sumption of every individual of the population of 354,000 at date.
TEXAS.
Com nissioner of Agriculture L. L. Foster writes from Austin :
I beg to state that there are no laws in this State upon this subject. If is the pre- vailing opinion of the people that adulteration of food, drugs, and liquors is carried on to a considerable extent, but this is not based on any reliable data.
The italics are supplied, aud the opinion expressed by Commissioner Foster is backed up by resolutions of the State Grange of Texas and of letters leceiv^ed by the writer from Worthy Past Master A. J. Kose, of the Texas State Grange, and other prominent gentlemen in that State.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 45
VERMONT.
Governor C. S. Page, of Vermont, was prompt and courteous in his reply to request for information. At the request of Governor Page Prof. W. W. Cook, director of the State agricultural station, furnished the following information :
In reply to your favor I would say that there is no person or department iu this State whose duty it is to look into the question of the adulteration of food, liquors, etc. The nearest approach to it is iu the question of oleomargarine, suspected sam- ples of which may be sent to the experiment station for analysis. So far, of the few samples that have been sent to us, we have failed to find any thing but pure butter. In our station report for 1S89, p. 37, there is an analysis given of adulterated cream tartar, which happened to come to the laboratory.
Secretary J. H. Hamilton, Richford, of the State board of health, furnished the following :
This board has not been asked to investigate the adulteration of food, drugs, or liquors, and no appropriation has been made by the State for this purpose. The statute prescribes a x^enalty for such adulterations, but provides no means for inspec- tion (chapter 6, R. S.). A bill relating to this matter was killed by the legislature of 1890.
VIRGrlNIA.
Prof. Eichard H. Gaines, Eichmond, Va., reports as adulterated: ^'Butter, lard, pulverized sugar, baking powder, vinegar, lager beer, and whisky." The State Grange and the Farmers' Assembly have both re- peatedly urged Congress to pass some stringent laws upon the subject of adulteration.
WEST VIRGINIA.
Mr. James W. Ewing, secretary to the governor, says : "This de- partment will be unable to furnish any information on the subject of adulteration of food, drugs, and liquors."
The West Virginia State Grange passed strong resolutions urging the adoption of a pure food bill.
ADULTEMN'TS OF FOODS. BEVERACtES. A\D DRUGS,
Nearly every article of food, drink, and drug' used by man, and from recent reports, beasts should be added, is more or less adulterated. It has been stated that during the Englishexamination every article in use was found iii some way to be adulterated except common salt, which was too cheap to admit of the expense, and the old-fashioned loaf sugar. Whether this be true or not, it IS now a pretty well established fact that every article in use has its "'grades," imitations/' etc., and that noth- ing that enters largely into daily consumption is too cheap to be cheap- ened.
In the annexed list are arranged in alphabetical form the various articles adulterated and the adulterants used, so as to give some slight idea of the extent and character of sophistication in a shape that can be readily comprehended.
COMMON ADULTERANTS OF FOODS AND BEYEEAGES.
As far as possible herein is given a classified list of common adulter- ants, together with comments and extracts relating to some of the most important ones as presented by various authorities. While many of these articles are perfectly harmless, the fraud consists in selling them under false and misleading brands, whereby the T3urchaser is sold one article when asking and paying for a different one. These adulterants are divided into two classes,'' Poisonous ''and "Fraudulent "adulterants. While ail poisonous adulterants are not only criminal bat fraudulent as well, most of the fraudulent adulterants are not harmful.
One character of fraud now generally adopted in States where laws are enforced is for the manufacturer in branding his goods to use large letters to describe them and very small ones to define the fact, required b^' law, that the}' are compounded. For example:
46
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 47
ALUM.
While not an acid salt gives the same practical result, carbonic acid being liberated by its use. It is often used in so-called cream of tartar powders. In such cases it is an adulterant.
ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS.
Fusel oil, tannin, logwood, water, coloring matter, burnt sugar.
Kirsch CGerman cherry brandy) is imitated by a mixture made from apricot and cherry seed, dried peach leaves, myrrh, and good-flavored alcohol.
Gin is the product of the juniper berry, often imitated with a whisky made from rye and barley, or potatoes and barley 5 also, adulterated with alum salts, spirits turpentine, and water and sugar.
Absinthe is adulterated or imitated by liquors undistilled— some dis- tilled— with trois-six from beets, etc. Old and damaged material is used and others after distillation have added aromatic resins, such as benzoin, guaiacum, etc.
BUTTER.
Oleomargarine, cotton oil, olive oil, beef suet, and water. The proper proportion of water is 5 to 10 i)er cent, but, according to HasselJ, Kil- mer, Johauson, and others, it can be loaded with from 20 to 50 per cent.
Eancid butter and lard churned together in sweet milk, with alkalies, is another form of adulteration.
BAKING POWDERS.
Alum for cream of tartar, overdoses of starch and flour.
BLACK PEPPER.
Buckwheat flour and ground hulls, cracker crumbs, Indian meal, wheat flour, charcoal, sand, bran, linseed meal, cocoanut shells, mus- tard husks, sawdust, olive stones, cayenne, P. D., red clay, and ship bread (see Spices).
Gen. B. F. Butler claims that the pepper used to cure the hides sent from South America to this country is washed, dried, and sold as pure pepper. One can imagine how they would like salt from spoiled fish or decomposed meat ; this class of pepper is no better.
Of thirteen samples analyzed by the Connecticut authorities, nine were adulterated.
BREAD.
Alum, sulphate of copper, ammonia, flours other than wheat, inferior grades of flour.
48 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
BEER.
Burnt sugar, licorice, treacle, quassia, coriander and caraway seed, cayenne pepper, soda, salicylic acid, and salt (increase thirst). Artificial carbonic gas, grains other than barley malt, glycerine, to increase its viscosity. Glucose* water is often added by retailers.
Tobacco or seed of Cocculns indicus are added as intoxicants.
In color and flavor burnt sugar, licorice, treacle, and other mixtures are added to disguise the taste of adulterants.
The very extended report of the Department of Agriculture in Bul- letin No. 13, part 3, would seem to preclude the necessity of referring to beer, but as its consumption is almost as general as bread, it may not be out of place to refer to its composition, and to the unhealthy elements that investigation has found therein.
The age of good beer should be from twelve weeks to six months, ac- cording to different authorities. It is often sold in from two to three weeks after being made, and in such a state is not healthy. One report says :
Beer slionld stand fioiu four to six months, so as to produce tlie needed carbouitica- tiou to prevent the beer turning acid. Good beer, well made, allowed to stand the necessary time, has in itself sufficient carbonic acid gas to eject all fermentable matter without resorting to artificial or injurious fermentation. The beers that are sophisticated simply accuse themselves.
Webster defines malt as Barley or other grain steeped in water until it germinates, then dried in a kiln, thus evolving the saccharine principle." Hassal says :
The extract of malt contains a variety of other substances, organic and mineral, beside sugar, so that the beverage produced iVoni brewing malt extracts and the mixture of this with sugar and various other substances is very different in its actual composition and in its diabetic properties and elfects.
Hassal again says :
Malt beverages should consist solely of the x)roduct of malt and hops, the former of which lias been subjected to fermentation, and all varieties of these beverages should be due to these and these alone. The color should be due solely to the degree of heat to which the malt has been subjected in the kiln and the ripeness and color of the hops employed, and adulteration is defined as follows : Any other substances than the constituents of malt and their derivatives, hops, and water, in such propor- tion as in the case of stout, strong, and pale ale, to reduce the absolute alcohol to less than 4.5 per cent, and in porter and beer to under 3,5 per cent. Although the law allows the addition of both sugar and salt, we regard these additions as adul- teration.
Atcherly, in reference to what ought to be the composition of beer, says :
Beer is the fermented infusion of malted barley flavored with hops, which, by law (English), are the only substances permitted to be used in its manufacture. How far this law is carried out is a matter which only analysis can determine.
*Glucose, when properly made, is healthful, but if manufactured improperly is a dangerous article (see Glucose).
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 49
A gentleman who evidently rakes a somewhat liberal view detines normal lager to be a fermented beverage not less thau six months old, made from any starchy grain, and rendered bitter to suit the consumer's palate.
There seems to he, therefore, an agreement in defining malt beverages as being composed solely of malt and hops, but a difference in regard to the kind of grain from which malt is to be derived.
On page 416, Kew York State Board of Health Report for 188G, we fiud the following :
Dr. Hartley, of Brooklyn, speaks of the custom of brewers sending out to the market beers only fourteen days old, containing more or less yeast, and clarified by artificial means instead of in the natural way. He further shows that while bicarbonate of soda taken into the stomach in suiall quantities is quite harmless, yet in the frequent potations of habitual beer drinkers, who imbibe, say, thirty glasses per diem, an amount ranging from 180 to 200 grains of bicarbonate of soda may be introduced into the system with necessarily deleterious effect.
-X *****
Another danger to be guarded against is at the retailers, where, it is alleged, adul- teration is carried on, either with the object of increasing the quantity, its intoxi- cating power, its pungency, or to revive old beer and give it an artificial color, result- ing, of course, in a deteriorated article.
^ -X- * -;f -jfr
No matter how good the beer may be when brewed, it is always liable to harmful manipulation in the hands of a conscienceless retailer. Water is added to increase the quantity with the result of lowering the proportion of its constituents and lessen- ing its flavor. Tobacco or the seeds of Cocculus iiidicus are added for intoxicating effect; color and flavor are given by means of burnt sugar, licorice, treacle, quassia, coriander and caraway seeds. To increase the thirst of the consumer, salt and cay- enne pepper are put in, and various mixtures are concocted to get rid of stale ale. For these the brewers are certainly not responsible.
COTTON SEED OIL.
This article has within the past few years created more discussion than any other adulterant, owing to the agitation arising from the Con- gressional investigation regarding the " Conger lard bill." The discus- sion has been so general that chemists in nearly all the States have in- vestigated the article with more than the usual care. So far as I have seen, the opinion expressed by these gentlemen is to the effect that the oil from cotton seed is a healthful commodity, and but few persons have advanced any contrary opinion. The oil, however, is used to adulte- rate the food supply probably more than any other one substance, and is sold under the name of lard and olive oil more extensively than in any other form. It enters largely into the fraudulent manufacture of butter and cheese, its rich color making it a very valuable article in the hand of the unprincipled manufacturer who desires a cheap substitute for cream.
CHEESE, LARD, AND COTTON OIL.
The adulterants are oleomargarine, skimmed milk, and coloring mat- ter, salts of mercury in the curd, and cotton seed oil.
Probably no one article is more extremely adulterated than this, and the extent to which the adulteration has been carried has excited con- siderable remark in foreign markets and materially interfered with the 19150— Ko. 32 4
50 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
export of the article. The principal adulteration in this article, like most of the others, is harmless, being the extraction of the cream and addition of colorin^j; matter, olio, and cotton oils. The following is from the Ohio report, 1890 :
A process has been invented and patented, and wbich Las been in operation a number of years, by vrhich about 14 per cent of lard is used with skimmed milk in making cheese. In this process about half of the fat removed in the skimming of the milk is replaced with lard. I do not believe there is -any chee&e of this sort made in Ohio. In this State the main cause of the poor and low grade cheese is the use of full skimmed milk.
What is called "filled cheese" is manufactured as follows, according to the New York Produce Exchange Bulletin :
The process consists in taking all the cream out of the milk by the separator, and then taking the skim milk up and charging the vat just before it is set with deodorized lard, cotton seed oil, or other fat. The oil is taken up in the curd, and mechanically held there, the cheese curd simply being used as a capsule in which to carry it. There is no assimilation or chemical affinity between the curd and its contents."
CHROME YELLOW.
This dangerous article is, it is thought, used very carelessl}' by bakers and confectioners to add beauty of color to their goods to give the appearence of using eggs much more generally than is done. On this subject I quote from several distinguished authorities in Philadelphia.
The following is taken from the Third Annual Eeport State Board of Health of Pennsylvania :
Dr. Leffman, of Philadelphia, found 8 grains of lead chromate in a pound of a sam- ple of Soup "noodles " placed there to color it in imitation of eggs. The baker from whom these noodles were purchased, one Krumm, of Philadelphia, stated he had habitually used this dye for thirteen years. Other samples were also found to con- tain lead.
Seventy-eight cases of lead poisoning were reported in Philadelphia by Dr. D. D. Stewart, chief of the medical classes in the Jefferson Medical College, from eating chrome yellow pound buns. Sixty-four cases were indisputably the result of the use of chrome yellow by two bakers, Schmid and Palmer ; in the family of one, six deaths occured, and he was himself seriously ill from the use of " his own medicine."
The tea buns tested by Dr. Leffman yielded approximately 2 grains of lead chro- mate to each.
At the inquest on the Palmer and Dieble cases, by a member of a wholesale drug and paint supply house, before referred to, who, curiously enough, is a lecturer on food adulterations, as well as pharmacy, in the Medical University of Pennsylvania, that, to his knowledge 80 per cent of the bakers and confectioners in Philadelphia were very recently regularly using chrome yellow, and that it had been in constant use by them as-an artificial color for many years. It was shown that all the chrome yellow so used came from this house. Coroner Ashbridge and Deputy Coroner Powers, both of whom took a very active part in the investigation that followed the report of the Palmer and Diebel cases to the district attorney, visited sixty-odd bakers, of which all but one were found to be using this dye, and it was ascertained that all were supplied directly or indirectly from this house.
It was shown at the inquest that chrome yellow had been kept on sale by this firm as bakers' and confectioners' yellow, in packages of one-quarter, one-half, and 1 pound, the latter being most frequently asked for, and that no warning had been given to those the clerks recognized as bakers as to the danger attending its use as a
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 51
food dye. It was further shown that this firm employed a salesman who regularly visited bakers to solicit orders for chrome yellow, and that most of it disposed of in this way was marked " free from arsenic," which the coroner inferred was an at- tempt to mislead purchasers, and cause them to believe the color nonpoisonous. It appeared that baker Schmid attempted to purchase from this house a harmless dye, styled " extract of eggs," such as he had employed in his trade in Switzerland, and that he was furnished chrome yellow, in 1 and 2 pound lots, which he subsequently introduced into his cake dough regardless of quantity, and that, being entirely una- ware of its poisonous properties, his wife and himself had eaten of the dyed cakes and had been made ill thereby. The thoroughness of the poisoning in nearly all of the reports of Schmid's victims indicated the recklessness wdth which he used the dye, but the fact that his wife and himself exhibited undoubted symptoms of plumbism points to his ignorance, that it is a poison.
Commercial chrome yellow is a rather variable chemical compound. It rarely, if ever, consists of pure lead chromate, but contains, as sold to bakers by the drug house before mentioned, usually from 65 to 93 per cent of this salt, and its chief diluent is calcium carbonate (whiting), though lead, calcium, and barium sulphate may also be used. When prepared for painters' use, lead carbonate is often added to render the mass more opaque and of a less decided yellow.
Because of the su^^posed insolubility of lead chromate and the number of cases I had indiibitably traced to its use as a cake dye,. Dr. Lefi'mann recently undertook some experiments to ascertain the possible presence of lead carbonate as an adulter- ant, fancying, naturally, the poisoning might have been due to the latter more soluble salt. He tested various samples of chrome yellow in the market and some pro- cured from several bakers, including the sample obtained from Palmer, but was unable to find lead carbonate in any of them. He, however, ascertained that lead chromate, contrary to the generally received opinion, is freely soluble in very dilute solutions of the ordinary household acids, such as citric and acetic, in very dilute hydrochloric acid, and in very dilute solutions of hydrochloric acid and pepsin. A brief considera- tion of this important fact will explain the ease with which poisoning took place, and should not cause surprise at the statement that there is scarcely a doubt that many thousands of cases of poisoning have occurred in our city through lead-laden cakes during the past twenty years, many of which, it is feared, have been unrecog- nized by physicians and treated for other ailments. I have recently, in my service in the out-patient medical department of the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, seen not a few cases of plumbism, with obscure symptoms, none of which are ordinarily regarded as suggestive of poisoning by lead, yet the metal was found in the urine of a number of these, and, placing them on an antilead treatment, they have recovered. There is likewise a large group with more pronounced and characteristic symptoms that I have in most instances been unable to trace to other sources than dyed cakes. I have, however, refrained from placing any of these cases on record, not having had the opportunity of making an exhaustive search for other channels of poisoning, which, though, I believe I should not have found.
COFFEE.
Green coloring matter, polishing', burnishing, water, and lactoserine (the Swedish coffee bean), an almost exact imitation of the real bean, even to the crook in the seam.
Mr. Barrett tells of a case where green coffee was darkened by artifi- cial means to supply the demand for a rich dark color. People are doubtless often fooled in buying various articles of food by the color. Appearance has little to do with auy article in these days of paint, dye, polish, and powder.
52 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Toasted coffee is often steamed to increase the weight.
Ground coffee. — Chickory, beans, peas, corn, rye, acorns, chefus nuts, almond or nut shells, burnt sugar, lower grade colfees, pea hulls.
Imitation coffee. — The Swedish " lactoserine " has gotten a strong hold through the country.
The following letter and accompanying articles from the Philadelphia Times need no explanation or comment. There is also published here- with an article from the American Analyst :
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
Lewisburg, Pa., May 4, 1891. Dear Sir : Some days ago I received circular from your Department asking for any knowledge I might possess on tbe subject of food adulteration. Since I wrote you my attention has been called to two bad adulterations.
(1) An imitation coffee, concerning Avhich I send you recent clippings from the Philadelphia Times.
(2) The use of oat hulls to adulterate ground horse feed. An imitation " chop" is made using the hulls to produce the appearance of oats in the feed.
This, and the use of smut in feed, can, I think, be stopped. Kindly acknowledge the receipt of this.
G. G. GOFF.
Hon. Secretary of Agriculture,
Washington, D. C.
A coffee swindle.
The market flooded with perfect counterftits, both green and roasted — Big shipments from the Brooklyn agent of a German firm- -Varieties among local dealers — Hard, molded gritly pellets, heavy inw eight and cheap in price, that are identical uiith the genuine coffee in appearance, hnt hare no taste, manufactured for the purpose of mixing with the legitimate article — Ari imitation of green coffee heans that caused sickness.
Counterfeit coffee is the latest addition to adulterants. It is a manufactured beau, identical in appearance with genuine green or roasted coffee, and dealers in this city have recently been flooded with it. It is almost impossible to detect the fraud with the eye. It is apparently a hard-baked composition, molded by machinery in the same manner as druggists' pills,
It is very hard and gritty and not as easily broken as the genuine. Having little or no tasteor odor, its sole mission is to increase the bulk and weight of the regula- tion article, and this it does admirably, its weight being more than double that of the legitimate bean.
This is the bogus coffee bean now most widely used. It is of German manufacture, and is supplied by a Brooklyn agent. Other varieties, similar in appearance and differing but slightly in composition and taste, are manufactured in this city and in New Jersey.
• THE IMPORTED COUNTERFEIT.
Quantities of the imported coffee substitute have been sent to Philadelphia dealers since the first of the year by the Brooklyn agent, whose name is M. Kliemand, and whose office is at 327 Degraw street. Mr. Kliemand, or a representative, made sev- eral trips to this city, and received orders for considerable amounts of his stuff. To those who didn't order it he sent generous samples, and few local dealers have not met with it. Its sales are reported by the agents of local wholesale coffee dealers and roasters as enormous. As it is supplied at only IL cents a pound, it leaves a big margin of profit to dealers who mix it with the genuiLe,
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 58
Dealers who have uot consented to use tlie counterfeit have been at a loss as to what defense to make against its encroachments on their trade, sii)ce it is not sold to wholesalers as coffee, feut as "coffee substitute," dealers being left to their own discretion in the matter of mixing and reselling as the genuine article. One dealer who feared that it would be a hopeless task to invoke the aid of the law decided to draw public attention to the swindle by giving an exhibition of the samples.
THE PUBLIC WARNED.
The following notice is posted in the window of Harkness & Dering, dealers in teas and coffees, at 244 Chestnut street :
Beware
OF
Counterfeit Coffee. A luanufactured bean, made to resemble genuine roasted coifee and generally sold to consumers, mixed with the genuine.
The window is filled with samples of the coffee substitute," which another sign announces are not for sale, but to be given away. Naturally enough there hasn't been much request for them even on this basis, and the dealer has noticed that two or three persons who had the hardihood to take a little home to try have not returned for a further supply.
letter from a substitute dealer.
Just what is claimed for the counterfeit coffee is shown by the following letter received by the firm :
M. Kliemand, Commissioner and Representative,
.327 Degraw street, Brool'lyn, N. Y., January 14, 1890. Messrs. Harkness & Dering, Philadelphia, Fa.:
Gentlemen: I beg to mail. you a sample of a coftee substitute called "Kunst Kaffee," manufactured by Messrs. Erhorn & Dierchs, Hamburg, who appointed me general agent for the United States.
Advantages : It is animating but not exciting, and very nutritious and wholesome, softening the taste of the inferior coffees ; quality unimpaired for twelve months and longer.
Roast: Light, middle, and dark. (Sample is dark.)
Price : Eleven cents per pound, New York net, per Pennsylvania Railroad. Packing : In bags of 75 kz. (161 pounds).
I inclose the official analysis from Dr. Ules, sworn trade chemist, and hope to fe^ ceive your kind order. Yours, very trnl}^,
M. Kliemand.
The inclosed analysis to which Kliemand referred, gave a list of harmless ingredi- ents, including water, carbon, etc. This, with samples of ttie ''coffee substitute," Mr. Harkness sent to Prof. Buckhaut, of State College, in Center Countj^, with a request that he also should make an analysis. Prof. Buckhaut has not yet reported.
immense sale of the bean.
Mr. Harkness said yesterday: "The sale of the counterfeit beans in this city is tremendous. I shouldn't be surprised to see a lot of manufactories starting up in this city, for there is so big a demand for the stuff that there is a quick fortune in making and selling it. I have heard that similar counterfeits are made in Trenton,
54
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
and otlier places in New Jersey, although there were some prosecutions there some time n<>-o. Some parties must have been making the stuff in this city, too, as there are different varieties on the market.
"The counterfeit beans mix ea.^ly with the genuine, and the price, 11 cents a pound, leaves a big profit when the higher classes of coffees are so adulterated. Jnst what proportion is generally used in mixing I don't know— one-half would probably be too much. The bogus bean outweighs the genuine more than two to one."
THE GREEN BEAN COUNTERFEITED.
The worst counterfeit of the lot is a beau made to resemble the green coffee. A clerk in the drug store of H. P. John, 242 Chestnut street, had a number of the beans in his possession which he had discovered in an uptown grocery. The beans were apparently a hard-molded paste of starch or flour, in which some coloring material had been used.
Coffee Dealer Harkness, who has also seen specimens of the green counterfeit, said he had heard that one of the ingredients was Paris green, and that a family had been made very sick from its use. Where it was made was a mystery, but he was in- clined to believe that it was procured not far from home, although it might be im- ported like the burnt samples. — Philadelphia Times, April 30, 1891.
COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.
The imitation green and roasted deans that are sold — Hou' the stuff is made — Flour and tmter as tlie principal ingredients— Machinery that turns out great quantities in a short time — The local imitations in the market.
Coffee dealers yesterday had little else to talk about than the Times' expos6 of the counterfeit coffee swindle. The market, they said, was flooded with the various grades of beans made to resemble in appearance the genuine articles, both roasted and green. Although most of the counterfeits have been shipped to the city within the past few weeks by the Brooklyn agent of the Hamburg coffee substitute" man- ufacturing concern, a good deal of the stuff on the market is of local manufacture.
The imitation coffee bean now found in this market is harmless enough, being made for the most part of flour and water. The beans are manufactured by machinery, ■which has a capacity for turning out immense quantities in a very short time.
LOCAL lillTATION COFFEE.
Most of the counterfeit coffee of local manufacture now on the market is said by dealers to have been made by the Dowling Manufacturing Company, which had an office on Fifteenth street, above Arch. This firm manufactured coffee beans of flour and water, green and roasted, and sold them in packages labeled Java coffee" in large letters, with the addition in very small type of the word "compound." The firm ceased doing business a short time ago and the office is now occupied by a real estate dealer. Immense quantities of the "Java coffee compound" were distributed throughout the city and New Jersey and are still to be found in the market. The selling price was 7 to 8 cents a pound. An attempt was made to form a stock com- pany, and it was claimed that about $.150,000 of capital had been secured.
North Dowling, the head of the company, is now associated with J. E. Burns & Co., spice dealers on Front street, above Chestnut, in the manufacture of "process cof- fee." This is also an imitation of the genuine coffee bean or berry, but it is not sold as the pure article and the business is legitimately conducted and a patent applied for. The " process coffee" is composed of 33 per cent of pure coffee mixed with rye and bears the indorsement of Dr. Genth, of this city. The mixture is turned into the bean shape by machinery made and patented for the work.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
55
"better than bav coffee."
Mr. Burns said yesterday that he shipped the process coifee principally to the West and Southwest. He sold great quantities of it and considered it superior to the poorer grades of coffee sold generally as "siftings." The Dowliug Manufacturing Company gave up its business because it didn't pay to make an imitation absolutely free from coffee. There was, too, considerable trouble over the sale of the counter- feit in New Jersey, where the law against adulteration is very strict.
The Chestnut street firm that advertised '•'Counterfeit coffee given away in sam- ples" did a rushing business yesterday. All day people crowded the store in order to get samples to take home, many of them explaining that they were anxious to compare the bogus coffee with that they had been buying and drinking as the un- adulterated article.
Jobbers are anxious to check the sale of the counterfeits because they are so widely used by dealers to mix with the genuine that less of the real article is sold than would otherwise be the case, but the manufacturers, as they do not label their production as pure coffee, can not be proceeded against.
HOW it is made,
" I read the exposure of the coffee swindle in this morning's Times with a great deal of interest," said a traveling salesman yesterday. "It recalled to mind a recent trip through the Southern States when I met a salesman in the coffee line. He let me into the secrets of the 'line' and showed me samples of his goods. The roasted whole beans that he was selling were similar to those described in the Times, and he told me of what they consisted. The exact formula I have forgotten, but I remember that flour paste, hardened by hydraulic pressure, was the basic component. The machine which makes these bogus beans is the invention of a shrewd Boston Yankee and is patented. It turns them out by the million. There is another patented ma- chine used by the coffee adulterants, which is fed with a white bean about the size of a coffee berry. The machine splits and grooves the beans and they fall into a tub of cold water, where they are allowed to soak a few minutes. After this they are dumped into a stain, one of the ingredients of which is Paris green. Finally they are dried and run through a 'brush' machine which turns them out so closely imi- tating genuine green coffee berries that only an expert could detect the difterence.
GKOUND COFFEE COUNTBEFEITED.
" The ne plus ultra of fraud in the ' coffee line ' was a sample of ' ground ' that he showed me. To the smell, touch, look, and taste it was wonderfully like the genuine article, and I told him that the adulteration was, in my opinion, a better article than most of the genuine that was sold. When he told me what it was made of I marveled greatly at man's ingenious rascality.
"Another machine, also the invention of the Boston coffee maker, a powerful grind- ing mill, was used in making this. The husks and shells of cocoanuts, which can be had at any of the large confectionery establishments at the cost of carting them away, were reduced to granules, and, without being doctored, looked very much and felt very much like genuine coffee. When soaked for several hours in a solution made by dissolving coffee essence in water the deception was perfect. After being dried at a slow heat no one could tell the difference between a sample of this and a sample of genuine Mocha or Java." — Philadelphia Times, May 1, 1891.
ARTIFICIAL COFFEE.— A SWEDISH SWINDLE, WITH HEADQUARTERS IN PHILADELPHIA.
" Lactoserin." What is it ? It is an imitation of coffee — an excellent imitation, too — and it comes from Sweden. It looks like coffee and smells like coffee, but it isn't coffee, and consumers will, in the future, do well to look to what they are buying,
5G EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
as otherwise they may be made the victim of a remnuerative Swedish ''joke" — re- munerative to the gentlemanly perpetrator in Sweden. The ditference between gen- uine coffee and its Swedish imitation is very pronounced when the test is applied — the test of taste. The imitation looks like the genuine article, but does not taste like it. As soon as it is ciackcd by the teeth it resolves itself into small particles in the mouth. With a view to tiuding out something about the imitation, a reporter for the Blade called on Mr. Woolson, of the Woolson Spice Company, last evening, and asked him regarding it. " We have received several communications and samples of the ' cotfee,'" said he, "but have x^aid no attention to them. The ' imitation ' ii^, of course, a fraud, i. c, so far as it being equal to genuine coffee is concerned, and it may for a little time interfere in some degree with the legitimate coffee trade. One of our men last week visited a regular customer, and asked, as usual, for an order. The dealer told him he had bought coffee cheaper elsewhere and had made more money on it than he could on ours. Our agent wanted to see the coffee. After ex- amining the package produced, and finding the contents to be a mixture, he pur- chased it, and here it is." The inventor of the " new coffee," AVilliam Rehnstrom, of Stockholm, Sweden, some days ago wrote a letter, it is learned, to the Dowling Man- ufacturing Company, of Philadelphia, in which he says he is glad his invention is getting on so well in the United States, and in which he declares it to be a merchan- dise just as good as it is valuable. He adds that by adding lactosei iu to coffee " we have values in millions. The production of coffee islimited — of lactoserin unlimited, or the less coflee add the more lactoserin." The Dowling Manufacturing Company have a corner on the new merchandise, and are flooding the country with sample packages, and with each package goes a letter announcing that their long negotia- tions with the representatives of Mr. William Rehnstrom, of Stockholm, Sweden, have been successfully concluded, and that henceforth the exclusive use in the United States rests with them for " lactoserin " for and in combination with coffee. Here Mr. Woolson emptied the contents of the package on the table and leveled the pile. He then placed his hand on it and raised it quickly. ** You see," said he, with a smile of triumph, "that the genuine coffee of the mixture will stick to the jjalm, the imitation won't They can not put the gloss on the bogus article that beautifies the genuine." " Is the gloss put on coffee during the process of roasting it or after- wards?" "Afterwards; but to go on about ' lactoserin,' it maybe said that it is liable to become a dangerous article in the coffee trade unless steps are taken to reg- ulate it. I do not think it can be suppressed at once, as its inventor, William Rehn- strom, of Stockholm, Sweden, has patents on it in this country. The berry of the imitation, you see, is much heavier than the genuine, but it lacks the gloss, and the crease is not like that of nature's provluction. The imitation will be manufactured at 10 cents per pound. A half pound of coffee at 25 cents and half of ' lactoserin" at 10 would make a pound of mixture worth 17^ cents. It would sell readily at 25 cents, as the people know nothing of the new article, and have been paying 27 cents a pound, and the profit to the seller would be 9^ cents. This is quite an item when it is taken into consideration that there is very little, if anything, made on coffee by the retail dealer. The genuine article costs him 25|, and he grinds and sells it for 27. The temptation to make something will probably prove so strong that a good deal of ' lactoserin' will be sold. In ground coffee it can not easily be detected, as it has the color and odor of the genuine." "What do you think 'lactoserin " is made of Mr. Woolson ?" " Probably musty flour, though I do not know. If it is made of flour it is not dangerous, but it can not be determined what its ingredients are. It may be a kind of clay." — Toledo Blade.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 57
CIDER.
This very wholesome and refreshing drink does not escape the adulterator's art.
Prof. H. A. Weber, chemist of tlie Ohio State University, reported on these samples to Hon. F. A. Derthick, dairy and food commissioner for that State.
He states that all of the samples were branded jiure cider. He found No. 388 sweet, showing no signs of fermentation, but containing a large amount of salicylic acid.
No. 389 was undergoing fermentation ; it, too, contained " a large amount of salicylic acid."
No. 390. Marked, ''S, R. & J. C. Mott's unfermented apple juice. 'Sweet cider.' Bouckville, Madison County, N.Y."
The following was copied from S. R. & J. C. Mott's card, whicli accompanied the sample: "Unfermented juice can not be kept for a long time without the use of powerful drugs, which not only ruin the flavor, but render it very Injurious to the stomach. Our products are free from any such materials, and sweet juice can not be indefinitely guaranteed against fermentation."
This sample, when examined, was undergoing fermentation. It contained a large quantity of salicylic acid.
Cider is also adulterated with acids and other chemicals, and dried apples are used to give taste and color to the compound. This is es- pecially the case when the fruit crop is scarce and high, but it is a well- established fact that the sui^ply of cider never runs dry.
CREAM OF TARTAR.
Sulphate of lime, acid phosphate of lime, alum, corn starch, flour. For weighting any white material, such as terra alba, plaster, flour, starch, etc,
Alum or tartaric acid gives it aerating qualities.
Pure cream of tartar should be guaranteed 98 per cent of tartrate (Connecticut report).
The following in regard to this article is taken from the 1890 ]N"ew York State Eepori-, page ttCG:
One hundred and fifteen samples collected from retail grocery stores in the city of Albany exclusively were examined, previous investigation having shown that a pnre .nrticle is almost invariably sold by druggists. The results of the examination of these samples will be surprising to those who are not informed upon this subject, for only 30 of the samples, or 26 per cent of the total number, consisted of real and unadulterated cream of tartar. With the exception of 6 samples rated as fair, in which the amount of adulterants was comparatively small, the remaining 85 samples were either largely adulterated or entirely fictitious. Of this number, 19, rated as inferior, were adulterated, either with starch, acid phosphate of lime, or sulphate of lime, in varying quantities, not less than 80 per cent of the adulterant or make- weight being present. in some instances. Fifty-eight of the samples were entirely fictitious, of which number 10 were chiefly acid phosphate of lime (containing considerable sulphate), 23 were chiefly acid phosphate of lime and starch, 11 were chiefly tartaric acid and sulpliate of lime, and 14 consisted of tartaric acid, sulphate of lime, and starch ; 2 samples consisted of poor baking powder sold by mistake for cream of
58 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
tartar. The sale of such miserable imitations lor real cream of tartar is evidently without excuse, and as the fraudulent substitute is frequently sold at the price of the genuine, with perhaps less than a quarter aud seldom more than half of its strength, it is evident that the purchaser is both deceived aud defrauded. These substitutes are to be coudemned, also, as being, in all probability, less wholesome than the article they replace.
Of 12 samples analyzed by the Connecticut authorities, 8 were adulter- ated.
COPPER.
A dangerous poison when used by inexperienced or careless people, in Connecticut lieport, p. 307, is found :
Even if the copper is in a jjoisonous form, of course the quantity present is not suffi- cient to produce immediate symptoms of poisoning, but the continued use of food con- taining small quantities of such a poison is quite probably injurious to health, espe- cially as some people are affected by extremely slight doses. Sulphate of copper ought not certainly to find a place in an establishment where foods are being pre- pared. Although small quantities are intentionally used, the consumer, knowing from experience, how liable cooks are to oversalt their dishes, can not but tliinkof what would be the consequence if, through some blunder, a poisonous dose had been added.
Blyth, the English analyst, says on this point :
Since coppered peas must either (1) have a toxic action if the copper is in a soluble form, or (2) if the copper is insoluble the pea must be deprived of some of its nutria five properties, the analyst need have no hesitation in certifying that pease made green with copper are adulterated under the sale of food aud drug act.
CANNED GOODS.
Sulphate of copper is used to give a green color. Meat damaged in the process of canning.
An examination by the Connecticut authorities showed in nine samples of French peas, one sample string beans, and one of mixed vegetables, that all contained copper.
CAYENNE PEPPER.
Red lead, ground rice, flour, salt, cracker dust, Indian meal, ship bis- cuit, ''P. D.," and other like articles.
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE.
Oxide of iron and other coloring matter, starch, flour, sugar, animal fats, and caromel.
CONFECTIONERY.
The principal articles used are glucose, terra alba, arsenic, sulphate of copper, prussic acid, tartaric acid, fusil oil, analyne dyes, chrome yel- low.
Several alleged cases of i)oisouiiig b^^ confectionery in Massachusetts resulted upon examination in failure to find tlie alleged poison. The cause of illness is believed to have resulted more from the quantity con- sumed than from the quality.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
59
CLOVES.
Arrowroot.
CINNAMON.
Spent bark.
FLOUR.
Not generally adulterated, but few cases reported. Damaged pease, ground rice, corn meal. It is sold m usty and often contains smut. Alum is sometimes put in some brands to give whiteness.
aEEENING.
This species of deception is dangerous and consists of using care- lessly or wilfully copper salts copper coins, and vessels, to give a green color to preserves or pickles.
OINGER.
Turmeric, cayenne pepper, mnstard, inferior and refuse ginger.
GLUCOSE.*
This article is nsed to adulterate very extensively the following arti- cles: Sugar, cane and maple sirups, molasses, honey, jellies, jams, con- fectionery, beer, vinegar, liquors, wines. Bakers use it for cakes, cooks for sauces ; it is also used in tobacco.
Dr. Battershall, of New York, in his Food Adulteration and its De- tection, says, on page 138 :
The question of the sanitary eiiects of the nse of artificial glucose as an adul- terant of sugar and sirups, and as a substitute for malted grain in the manufacture of beer, has given rise to extensive controversy. In this regard one fact seems to have been demonstrated. Glucose, as it is now found in the market, is free from any appreciable amount of deleterious contamination. The discovery of its artificial production has given birth to a very important branch of iudustry, and, according to all available reports, the commercial product at present met with is for many pur- poses an economical and harmless substitute for cane sugar, the chief objection to its application being the fact that it possesses considerably less sweetening power.
The Massachusetts board of health, as quoted from the New York American Analyst, February 15, 1886, has some very sensible comments on this glucose question, calculated to dispose of popular fallacies re- garding its supposed dangerous qualities. When properly and care fully manufactured it regards it as a wholesome food, deficient, however, in sweetening power; but a dangerous article to be taken into the sys- tem when carelessly prepared. The question, then, turns upon its moiie of preparation. Glucose is usually made from the starch of corn by boiling it with dilute sulphuric acid, a process first discovered by Prof.
* When there is an excess of oil vitriol and lime it is dangerous.
60 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Kircoff, a Russian chemist, in 1811, aud largely practiced in Austria and Germany siDce that time; but only within a comparatively recent period introduced into this country. The process is thus described by the Massachusetts board of health:
The starcli is first obtained in a pure condition from the corn, tLeu mixed with water, aud the mixture is heated to boiling. Sulphuric acid is added to the extent of about 2 per cent., aud it is tlien boiled about three hours. The starch is by this time con- verted to sugar and dextrine, both of which are in solution. The free acid is then got rid of by the addition of chalk or marble dust, which, with the acid forms calcic sulphate, which settles to the bottom and leaves a clear, supernatant linid, which yields glucose aud dextrine. Should all of the acid not be removed or should the calcic sulphate be in any amount retained, it is evident that the product would not be entirely harmless, since disturbances of the digestion might follow its use. More- over, the contaminations which are ordinarily present in commercial sulphuric acid will of course be present with the acid, aud Johnston claims that such beer is defi- cient in the aromatic principle found in the skin of the grain. — [New York State Re- port, p. 415.
The following is taken from N"ew York State report for 1890, pp. 79-82.
The National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, made a report on the composition, nature and properties," of glucose, from which I will extract as follows :
The starch sugar of commerce consists cheilly of dextrose, with varying quantities of another kind of sugar called maltose, and often more or less of dextrine or starch gnm. Dextrose was first recognized as a peculiar variety of sugar, differing from cane sugar, by Lowitz, in 1792. It is generally known in chemical works as dextrose or dextro-glucose, but is also called glucose, glycose, grape sugar, starch sugar, po- tato sugar, etc. It is produced from starch by the action of dilute acids. In France and Germany potato starch constitute, the only available material for the manufac- ture of this sugar, but in the United States the starch of Indian corn or maize is in- variably employed. The process consists, first, in extracting the starch from the corn in a state of sufficient purity, then transforming this into sugar by treatment with dilute acid, and subsequently neutralizing the acid, purifying aud then concentrating the product.
The variety in which the conversion is the least complete is called glucose," and remains liquid. That in which it is more complete, and which becomes solid, is called grape "sugar." Starch sugar appears in commerce in a variety of grades, under the following names :
This industry sprang into existence during the continental blockade under Napoleon I, after which it disappeared for some years. It has gradually revived, and is now an established industry both in continental Europe and in the United States. The irregularity of demand for the product depends largely upon the comparative price of corn, and of molasses and cane sugar. At the time of the last census the capacity of the factories in the United States was estimated at 43,000 bushels of corn per day.
The liquid varieties.
Glucose. Mixing glucose. Mixing sirup.
Corn sirup. Jelly glucose.
Confectioners' crystal glucose.
The solid varieties.
Solid grape sugar. Clipped grape sugar. Granulated grape sugar.
Powdered grape sugar. Confectioners' sugar. Brewers' grape sugar.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 61
Payeu, iu 1855, estimated tlio Freuch production iVom potato starch at 5,500 tons per year; and Wagner, in 1874, estimated that of the German Empire at 19,800 tons of sirup and 27,500 tons of sugar per year.
The committee reported the following conclusions :
(1) That the manufacture of sugar from starch is a loug-established industry, scientifically valuable and commercially important.
(2) That the processes which it employs at the presen time are uuohjectiouahle in their character, and leave the products uncontaminated.
(3) That the starch sugar thus made and sent into commerce is of exceptional purity and uniformity of composition, and contains no injurious substances.
(4) Though haviug at best only about three-fifths the sweetening power of cane sugar, yet starch sugar is iu no way inferior to cane sugar in healthfulness, there beiug no eviden< e before the committee that maize-starch sugar, either iu its normal condition or fermented, has any deleterious effect upon the system, even when taken in large quantit'es.
HORSE-RADISH.
Turnips.
HONEY.
Glucose, sugar sirups, molasses, and raw sugar.
Of five samples examined in Connecticut all were adulterated.
Bees are often fed sugar and glucose sugar by raisers, so as to in- crease the quantity of honey. Whether this is an adulteration the reader can determine for himself.
It has been stated that paraflfine combs have been supplied the bees, so as to lessen their labors and increase the supply.
It has been learned from a gentleman that some samples were sold in Baltimore some years ago of comb honey, all of which was artificial. No trace has been secured or a sample obtained.
JAMS AND JELLIES.
Glucose, gelatin; coloring matter principally dyes, preservatives; gelatin apple jelly, artificial essences.
ISINGLASS.
Gelatin.
ICE CREAM.
Aniline and other coloring ; for flavoring, essence of bitter almond.
LARD.
Cotton oil, beef and sheep stearin, caustic lime, and alum water (often as high as 20 to 35 per cent), and alkalies. For i'nll report of lard and its adulterants see Dr. Wiley's report, Bulletin 13, Part iv, IJ. S. De- partment of Agriculture, and reports of investigation by the Fiftieth and Fifty first Congresses, i^o one article has probably been more CO n s p i c uo u s 1 y ad u 1 1 er at ed .
62 EXTENT AND CHAEACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
MUSTARD.
Ground yellow cakes, flour, cayenne, chrome* yellow, Martin's yel- low,* gypsum,! turmeric,! mustard cake colored with turmeric; diluted with starch, wheat and rice flour ; weighted with terra alba.t
Of nineteen samples examined in Connecticut seventeen were adul- terated.
MACARONI.
Saffron, turmeric,! and Martin's yellow.*
MOLASSES.
Glucose, sirups, tin salts.*
In Connecticut, of twenty-two samples examined nine contained glu- cose and salts of tin. An examination shortly afterwards showed all to be pure (fifteen sami^les). But in 1888 and 1889, of forty-two examina- tions made nineteen were fraudulent.
MEATS.
Diseased meats of all kinds are liable to transmit disease to the person eating, but so far as national legislation can well regulate this matter it is done by the meat inspection law passed by the Fifty-first Congress.
MILK.
The question of meat inspection has been acted on by Congress since my last report, both foreign and interstate, which, taken in con- nection with the oleomargarine law, pretty well covers the entire ques- tion, except as to
mLK AND CHEESE.
The various local laws regarding milk have created great improve- ment in the quality of the milk sold, as proven by inspection, and that it has done good is shown by the decreased death rate of infants in sev- eral of the larger cities where the inspection has been most thoroughly attended to.
The adulteration of milk, however, is a question that needs special and careful attention, as it is not only one of the most important arti- cles of diet, but is undoubtedly the most susceptible of being contami- nated by absorption of impurities from its surroundings, as well as being easily injured by the food given the cow, its i^urity depending largely upon what she eats and the water she drinks. The health of the ani- mal is also another important question, as it is a well recognized fact that tuberculosis in the cow engenders it in the human system that uses the milk. As milk is largely an article of interstate trade and one upon which so much depends, it comes clearly within the j)rovince of the
* Poisonous.
t Injurious.
EXTENT AND CHAEACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 63
Government to regnlate the conditions of shipment and provide for its careful inspection botli of the commodity and the animal from which it is taken.
The use of milk may be estimated by the following figures, which show the supply for 13 cities ; population, 4,746,150 : Amount of milk used, 480,000,000 quarts; wholesale price, $19,260,000; retail price, $32,000,000,
Milk that contains less than 12 per cent of solids and more than 88 per cent of water is not good or wholesome. The standard for milk by ^Tew York regulation is fixed at —
Fat 2.0
Solids not fat..... 9.0
Total solids 11.5
AVater.... 88.5
The great importance of milk as an article of food ; its rapid deterioration upon exposure to the air, especially at high temperatures ; its liahility to convey the mate- rial of infection, make it imperative that its production and its sale should be con- ducted under the most careful supervision. — [Mass. Report, 18S9, p. 91.
Prof. S. P. Sharpless, of Boston, says:
The milk law has probably been better and more fully enforced in this city than any other in the United States, not as a spasmodic effort, as in some other cities, but as a regular, constant business.
The Massachusetts report of 1874, page 476, shows the following adul- terants : Water, flour, salt, sheeps' brains, gum arable, annetto, caramel. Dr. Chancellor, of Maryland, on page 32 of his report for 1888, says:
When we remember that 50,000 disease germs will thrive in the circumference of a jjin head, we may form some idea of the great danger to health that arises from milk pollution.
The Massachusetts board inspected in 1889 1,955 samples, of which 1,108 were above the standard and 847 below. The percentage was 43.32 of an inferior quality. Tweutj^-five samples were skimmed and 34 colored.
The same report states that the milk of 601 animals was examined and the average total solids was 13.26. The average in 1888 was lower than in 18S4-'85, and is explained by two reasons, neither of which the producer or dealer is responsible for, viz : An increase of rainfall in the months of September and October, when the samples were collected, was greater than for ten years previous. The report does not claim this to be a settled question, however. The other reason assigned is the intro- duction of Holstein cows, " whose milk is usually found to be below the legal standard of pure milk."
The following is taken from the report of Dr. C. W. Chancellor, secre- tary of the State board of health of Maryland :
But the worst effect of adulterated milk is to be found among young children, who feed so largely on milk, for not more than one mother in six is able to nourish her infant from her breast for one year. In 1868 the deaths from cholera infantum in Boston,
64 EXTENT AND CHAEACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIOXS.
Mass.. amounted to A^7, while in au equal population outside of the city the deaths from the same cause during the same time were only 100. It \Yas found that not more than .5 per cent of the milk sold in Satfolk Tras unadulterated. In New York, after the milk inspectors hegan their Avork. the infant mortality was 3,673 less in 1SS3 than in l--^^. when tJiere was no insiDection. Ii: Boston the milk inspection begun in 18>3, and in that year there was an apparent lessening of deaths among children underfive years of age fi'om cholera infantum. In Baltimore, during the year I'^Sb, there were upwards of 3.0C0 deaths of children uud,.er fire years of age, and of this number it is fair to assume that one-sixth, or 500, were directly attributable to an inferior milk sup- ply, and doubtless -jCO of these could have been saved by an improved quality of milk. We can not replace milk with any other diet, and therefore the failure of the milk supply would in some respects be more disastrous than the failure of the wheat supply.
Prof. Babcock. who was the official analyst of Boston^ a few years ago obtained samples of milk from some of the most respectable nnlkmen and grocers in the city, which were all sold as pure milk, and at the highest prices, and his examination of these samples goes to couiirm the lacr. which some milkmen themselves do not hesitate to admit, that in conducting the milk trade of our large cities adulteration is the rule. Nor is the evil uum'xed. Much of the water of adulteration is derived from country wells and springs, added by persons in agricultural districts where typhoid fever may be rife. Eecent investigations, conducted in the most thorough and searching manner by experts, have established the fact that epidemics of tyx)hoid fever and of other infective diseases, such as scarlet fever, maybe produced by infected milk, and this being the case, we can not but view with distrust and alarm this importation of country well water mingled with the milk we drink — [Maryland Report, 18SS, p. 31.
In the report of the Massacliusetts board for 1876 Dr. Bowditcli states tliat tyidioid fever inav be produced by usiL^^" milk polluted Avitli water, and iu the report for 1S77, p. 122, the same doctrine is il- lustrated by Prof. AVilliam Eiply ZS^ichois in his article ou the pollu- tion of streams, etc., in which, among other things, he treats of watered milk.
In the report of the same board for 1S78. p. 325, it is stated that scar- let fever germs are also carried in milk, and may be thus propagated. When we remember that oO.OOn disease germs will thrive in the cir- cumferauce of a pin head, we may furm some idea of the great danger to health that arises from milk pollatioii.
EFFECT OF MILK OX INFANT LIFE.
The following is taken from the report of Dr. Townsend, health offi- cer of the District of Columbia :
Although the white population is estimated as being twice that of the colored, yet it will be seen that the deaths of the colored infants exceed the white by 200. This material dilference in the death rate may be charged, to a great extent, to the loca- tion of the colored people in alleys and unhealthy parts of the city, and in their un- sanitary surroundings; while there is no doubt but that a very large proportion of these children die in consec[uence of being fed improper and unhealthy food, especially cheap and badly-prepared condensed milk, and cow's milk which has been allowed to stand to the point of acidity after having been kept in vessels badly or uuskillfully cleaned. It is a well-known fact that infant mortality in the country is much less than that in the cities. This difference can not be wholly attributed to the unsani- tary conditions of the city. Much of it can be laid to the unnatural custom of urban
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 65
mothers in depriving their offspring of the food nature lias prepared. It is now a well-established fact that no artificial food has as yet been manufactured which will convey the same amount of nutriment to the child, without causing functional de- rangement, as mother's milk.
Mr. Charles O. Flagg, presideut of the Ehode Island State Agricul- tural School, sends the following from the Providence Evening Bulletin of March 20:
ADULTERATION OF MILK.
The following communication was received by the city council : From the inspector of milk to the honorable the Mayor and Board of Aldermen :
I most respectfully beg to draw your attention to the requirements of my office.
In entering upon my duties I find that adulteration is practiced very extensively and openly ; the examination by the State board of health proved 72 per cent of pur- chased samples to be adulterated, and my own experience thus far fully corroborates this condition of the milk sold in Providence. I estimate that there are fully 75,000 quarts of milk sold daily in this city. At 6 cents per quart this represents a value of $4,500 per day, or |1, 500,000 per annum.
On the 14th instant I spent the time from 2 a.m. to 7:30 a. m. inspecting milk among the peddlers, and have analyzed twenty of the samples taken, finding eighteen adulterated. The forms of adulteration are skimming, adding water, coloring, and in some cases substances to conceal watering, also preservatives to keep the milk from souring. The last additions are acknowledged by physicians to be injurious to the health, especially when taken daily by children and invalids.
I am of the opinion that not less than 10 per cent of the fluid sold as milk is adult- eration; matter foreign to pure milk ; this represents $450 per day, or $165,000 per annum, for added water and the like, which the people of Providence are paying to-day.
It at first seems that active work for a short time followed by prosecution might stop this fraud, but the experience of Boston shows that only constant vigilance v/ill insure the offering for sale of milk of standard quality. ' During the past week I visited the inspector of milk of Boston and examined the system so successfully in operation there.
The city has furnished a laboratory in one of its buildings. The working force consists of : Inspector, salary, $3,000; assistant chemist, salary, $1,800 ; clerk, salary, $1,500; three collectors, at $3 per day each.
During the year 1889 the entire expenses of the office were $9,478.20.
The income from license fees was $604, from fines $7,480 ; total, $8,084, making the net cost of the office to the city $1,394.20.
To fully cope with the present condition of milk adulteration in our city will re- quire systematic and thorough inspection ; so complete that every dealer in milk, whether peddler or storekeeper, will feel that he is likely to have his stock inspected at any moment and on any day including Sundays.
No reliable tests of milk, except in case of considerable adulteration by water and skimming, can be made on the premises where the milk is sold or the wagon from which it is delivered. Such tests can only be properly made in a laboratory provided with suitable facilities for chemical analysis. This involves the collection of samples and their removal to the laboratory for examination. Therefore to carry out the intentions of the law and to provide pure milk for the citizens of Providence will re- quire a much larger appropriation, and I respectfully request that a committee be appointed to examine into the matter. Yours respectfuUj'^,
G?;ORGE E. Pehkins,
Inspector.
19150— No, 32 5
66 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Aldermau Harris introduced the follovring resolution :
Resolved, That Aldermen , together with such as the common council may
add, be, and they are hereby, appointed a joint special committee to examine into the matter of the adulteration of milk, as reported by the inspector of milk in his communication, this day presented to the board of aldermen, with authority to report to either branch of the city council.
The resolution passed and Mayor Smith appointed from the board Aldermen Harris, West, and Dyer as the committee on examination,
MILK PRESERVATIVES.
The Connecticut report sa^ s :
The use of preserving chemicals is highly objectionable for two reasons :
(1) Because the continued use of boraic acid, borax, and salicylic acid, the princi- pal substances used for this purpose, is considered by physiologists of the highest au- thority injurious to health.
(2) When such preservatives are used there is a strong temptation to neglect in the dairy that cleanliness which otherwise is so essential for the proper preservation of milk.
Although large quantities of milk preservatives are sold in various iJarts of the coun- try no evidence can here be presented regarding their use in Connecticut since the work of collecting and testing milk was carried on the latter jiart of autumn, when pre- servatives are not so much needed and are j)robably not used. During the summer, especially, when ic-e is scarce, there is an incentive to the use of preservatives, since, w^here they are used, ice can be dispensed with. In a circular recently sent out by the manufacturers of awell-known milk preservative the following statements appears : "AYe know that many unscrupulous persons have recommended such chemicals as salicylic acid, borax, boracic acid, and benzoic acid as proper articles to preserve milk, but a little investigation will show these, by reason of their action on the hu- man system and the health of people, to be uniit for use, and, in fact, quite injurious." Since the preparation which this philanthropic company otiers for sale consists, ac- cording to analyses by reliable chemists, largely of boracic acid, the public, in the light of this quotation, can decide as to the advisability of its use.
MILK FROM DISEASED COWS.
The use for human food of milk from diseased cows is not only a disgusting but a dangerous practice. It is well known that many serious or even fatal cases of illness among children may be traced to the sickness of the cows on whose milk they were fed.
We have a law forbidding the sale of milk from cows affected with tuberculosis or other blood disease ; " but until we have an official inspection of milk farms, this law will be of little value in protecting the public against milk of such a dangerous character.
NOODLES (FOE SOUP).
Chrome yellow * to color.
OLIYE OIL.
Cotton seed, peanut, cocoa, and other vegetable oils.
* Poisonous.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
67
The following from the American Analyst is of such an interesting character, in connection with oil adulterations and the question gener- ally, that 1 reproduce it :
OLIVE OIL FRAUDS. — THE IMPORTED ARTICLE MADE OF PEANUTS AND SEEDS.
lu a recent issue of the San Francisco Argonaut a letter wg.s published from a gen- tleman of that city, who, after graduating from the University of California, went to Europe for several years to study all that relates to the culture of the vine and the olive tree, and the making and treatment of wine and oil, and has been in France and Italy for several years. In view of the growth of those industries in California, the following extract may interest some of our readers :
" MONTPELLIER, FRANCE, A;pril, 1891.
One hears so much of the adulteration of almost all articles of daily consumxition, that a few words about what I saw in this Ikie may be of interest. While at Mar- seilles I visited the magnificent docks and saw thousands of tons of peanuts and other grains from which oil is made. Great iron steamers were unloading heavy cargoes of these grains. Most of it came from Africa or Asia, where slave labor makes their production very cheap. The next day I visited some of the large oil mills in the out- skirts of Marseilles. Here I saw these peanuts, cotton seeds, colza, sesame, etc., ground up and pressed. It was an interesting sight I assure you, but apart from the line machinery^ in use, the names on the barrels of oil were of great wonder to me. Afterward at Nice, the most important oil center in the world, 1 found that among all the numberless oil merchants not more than thj-ee ever sell really pure olive oil. Leaving the warehouses and docks, I rode through the beautiful olive-covered coun- try and was astonished to see so many acres of magnificent olive trees being cleared and planted in grass. Questioning the men, I found that the price of genuine olive oil had been so reduced by competition with grain oils under the name of olive oil that the poor producers could not pay expenses and were forced to uproot these grand old trees and plant something that could not be pirated by unscrupulous merchants. In other industries the law compels everyone to sail under his own colors. When the oleomargarine threatened to ruin all the buttermakers of France, the law compelled the merchants to ' call a spade a spade,' Recently, plastered wine became omnipres- ent. The Government put an end to plastering, not by forbidding it, but simply by compelling merchants to indicate the nature of the x>roduct they offered for sale. Needless to say, no one would buy plastered wine if they knew it as such. The rea- son that cotton seed, peanut, etc., oils are allowed to be sold as ' pure olive oil' is two- fold. First, because the oil merchants are united against attempts to interfere Avith their trade; second, because, up to very recently, it was almost impossible to detect mixtures of cotton-seed oil, etc., with the pure product of the olive. Recently, how- ever, the much-talked-of difiiculty in detecting falsifici:tions has been swept away by the discovery of a simple and cheap detective that gives infallible results. The Ital- ians claim that it was Prof. E. Bechi, of the royal station of Florence, who first dis- covered it. The French say that it is due to the labors of Mr. R, Brul^, director of the government station Agronomique de Nice. I do not wish to enter into the con- troversy. Suffice it to say the two methods differ but little, and great credit is due both gentlemen, for their discoveries were made, I believe, independently.
I had occasion to pass several days in the government laboratory at Nice each time I passed through that city, and I made experiments with pure oil and mixtures. I was able to detect unmistakably 5 per cent of cotton-seed oil in olive oil and less than 3 per cent of oleomargarine in butter — for it works even more perfectly with but- ter than with oil. Some day, when you have an hour to spare, you can do all the tests yourself. You need but a solution of nitrate of silver, twenty-five for one thousand in alcohol of wine at 95° a few test tubes 6 inches long, and a basin of water kept at boiling point over an alcohol lamp or stove of some sort.
68 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Put in one test tube pure olive oil in another pure cotton-seed oil, and then make any mixture you choose. In each case use 12 cubic centimeters of the oil yon wish to test and 5 cubic centimeters of the reactive. Put the tubes in the bath of boiling water and watch the results. You can do six or eioht dozen at a time by numbering your test tubes. The whole operation lasts but thirty minutes at most. Pure olive oil, well made, remains clear and of a greenish tint. Cotton-seed oil turns black, and mixtures vary in color. Poorly made oil of the second pressure clouds up at first, but soon regains a greenish color. This test is wfalUble, and once seen never can lead to mistakes. When this discovery was first made known, the oil falsifiers took prompt steps to muzzle the press and buy off all who attempted to make it known generally. They were at first successful ; but thanks to the outside press and the patient and determined efibrts of a few people, the cat got out of the bag, and a great commotion ensued. Buyers of oil now^ demand Brule's analysis, sworn to before the consul, before they will accept shipments, I know of one man who is making a great deal of money by ofi:ering, as an inducement, Brule's analysis thereby proving the old saying that honesty is the best policy. If this crusade against falsifications continues to be as successful as it has been thus far, I have no doubt that the culture of the olive will regain its former importance, and the poor peasants wall be once more happy, as they were before cotton seed and peanuts gained the mastery.
The grower of olives in California should be careful to fight the adulterators before they gain too much power. Steps should be taken to establish laboratories where consumers could have analyses made without trouble or expense. The slight cost of such stations would be paid for a hundred-fold by the increase in price of the pure article. Why should not Congress extend the oleomargarine law to oils, and compel various oils to sail under their own flags."
OLEOMARGARINE.
Eefuse pork (liable to produce tricliiose), boue fats, candle and soap grease, horse fat.
PICKLES.
Poor vinegar, poor spices, and copper greening.
PEAS.
Of nine samples of French pease examined in Connecticut for copper all contained it, while two American samples examined contained none.
PIIVIENTO.
Ship bread.
PRESERVES.
Glucose, gelatin,* preservatives, and coloring matter, apples, pump- kins, molasses, etc.
SAGO.
Potato starch.
RUM.
Cayenne pepper, artificial essences, water.
* Injurious.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
69
SUGARS.
Granulated sugar is not easily adulterated. Loaf, pulverized, and brown are found adulterated with grape sugar, flour, starch, terra alba,* clay,* sand,t bean dust, salts of tin, I leadj: and gypsum,* and rice flour.
Sugar is often injured by being purified with putrid blood.
SPICES.
Every character of spices is adulterated with a great variety of things. Among them are starch, flour, shells, ground beans and pease, turmeric, buckwheat flour and hulls, chromate of lead,{ sulphate of lime* (plaster), yellow lake.t
In this connection is given a paper from the American Journal of Pharmacy, June, 1890, read by Frank A. Hennessy, Ph. G., before the pharmaceutical meeting May 20.
A NEW SPICE ADULTERANT.
[Contribution from the chemical laboratory of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy— No. 72. Read at the pharmaceutical meeting, May 20, by Erank A. Hennessy, Ph. G.J
Some time aj;o the attention of the writer was called, to some samples of " artificial ground spices" which bore a close resemblance to the pure articles. It was learned that the production of these goods was the result of numerous experiments, and sub- sequent iuYestigation succeeded in bringing to light a branch of manufacturing in- dustry of no small magnitude, which has for its sole object the production of articles known to the trade as "spice mixtures." The manufacture of these articles is con- ducted in a large steam bakery in Philadelphia. Samples of the materials used have been secured from time to time, and these are presented with this paper.
The substance which forms the base for all these mixtures, and which is designated in the sample as " meal," was found on inquiry among several millers to be a very low grade of wheat.
It is not known to them by any special name, but might be called ''blow-room stuff." It is a little better than feed, to which it is sometimes added to improve the quality, but is a lower grade than middlings. Samples from lots which had been delivered to the bakery at different times were identical.
The meal is made into a dough with water, rolled out and cut in the same manner as soda crackers, and baked in an oven.
These crackers or ''biscuits," as they are termed, are then allowed to dry thor- oughly when they are ready for grinding.
The different shades are obtained by the use of coloring matters which are mixed with the meal when it is being made into dough.
The "white" biscuit is made from the plain meal without coloring. The "yel- low " is made with the aid of turmeric, a little of which goes a great way in impart- ing a rich yellow hue, such as is peculiar to mustard.
A sample of the coloring matter used in the "brown" biscuits is also presented. An analysis shows this to be a mixture of about equal parts of Spanish brown and turmeric.
Charcoal is used in the " black " biscuits.
Some biscuits having a red color, such as might have been used to adulterate cay- enne pepper, were seen, but it was impossible to secure samples at the time.
Injurious.
t Not often.
t Poisonous.
70
EXTEXT AXD CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS.
Large quantities of these spice biscuits have been delivered to a spice house in Philadelphia, and it is not known that any have been shipped out of the city. As they are al] sent to the spice dealers in the \vhole condition, probably on account of the lack of facilities for grinding, the samples of powders which are presented were ground by the writer in a small drug mill, and may only roughJy resemble the pow- ders prepared by the spice millers.
However, they will serve to show how closely the ground spices may be imitated.
The sample labeled pepper mixture "* is made up of the black,"' white," and "br-own'" powders — the one labeled " clove mixture" of the '•'brown'' and ''black."
Cracker dust is said by many investigators to be used as a spice adulterant, and a sample of this material from the same bakery is presented, although it has never been used in the manufacture of these biscuits. It consists altogether of stale bread, which accumulates in large quantities, and which is thoroughly dried and ground.
An analysis of the spice biscuits gave the following results, the '"black" and " white " powders and the original meal being taken :
|
White. |
Elack. |
Meal. |
|
|
7.52 3 Trace 14. 51 6.03 75.8 |
8.27 4. 98 4. 45 9. 43 14. 51 3.02 83. 2 54.1 15. 57 |
||
|
Soluble asb rHCi' |
2. 95 |
||
|
Insoluble ash iHClt |
|||
|
2. 95 14. 51 11. 02 65.8 |
|||
|
Hesidne after treatment witn cold HoO aud dried at 100" C |
|||
The ash consisted of Xa, K. Cu. Mg. chiefly as phosphates, with some sulphates, the insoluble portion of the ' • black " being fine sand.
It is evident that without the most careful examination the presence of these mix- tures in ground spices might often escape notice.
The starch granules are u.sually so much altered in the process of baking as to ren- der their identifications almost impossible.
As pure ground pepper, for instance, yields:
Moisture 8-10
Ash. , 2-5
Starch 34-43
Total reducing sugar ecjuivalent 42-55
It is obvious that in case of admixture with this material the determination of any or all of those constituents would be of no value, and it is probable that the only re- liable results would be obtained from estimating the amount of piperiu and resin, which is quite constant.
Some points of similarity to other spices might be mentioned to show how admira- bly these mixtures are adapted to their purpose ; but the object of this paper is sim- ply to call attention to what is believed to be the latest development of inventive genius in this direction.
SIRUPS.
Glucose, salts of tin,* dextrine.
TEA.
Exhausted leaves, once used dried, facing with Prussian bine,* plum- bago gnui; weighting* nitric acid, sand, soapstone, china clay, and gypsum.
* Poisonous.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 71
Of eij^iiteeii samples examined in Oounecticiit, n,!! were found to con- tain Prussian blue, which was identified under ihe microscope.
Tea is generally faced or painted with clayey matter, Prussian blue, l)lumbago ; also a yellow dye, probably turmeric.
Extractive matter in genuine unadulterated tea should generally reach 30 per cent. The Connecticut authorities found in pure tea from 31 to 39 per cent.
VEAL.
Should not be eaten when under a month old. The practice of kill- ing and selling younger calves is reprehensible ; there is little nutriment in the meat, it is not easily digested, and should be condemned.
VINEGAR.
Oil vitriol,* hydrochloric, and pyroligneous acid, and rarely burnt sugar, water, wine and meal vinegars sold for cider.
Of 206 samples analyzed for acids by the Connecticut officials 82, or 39 per cent, fell below the legal requirement.
Of 163 analyzed by the same authorities for solids 74, or 46 percent, fell below the standard.
WINES.
If all that is claimed about this article be true, but little i)ure Avine can be found. Many wines are heavily fortified with alcohol, coloring matter is extensively used, inferior wines are mixed, acids are added, and it is asserted in many cases all kinds of refuse matter is used that will ferment. Analine colors, crude brandy, water.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF WINE.
It contains a large proportion of water, a little undecomposed glu- cose, traces of soluble azotized matter or ferment, alcohol in variable proportions (from 7^ to 24 per cent), peptine raid mucilage, some tannin, free malic and tartaric acids; a coloring matter, yellow in white wine and red in dark wines, acetic and o?nanthic acids, an aromatic principle or bouquet^ and cenanthic ether, an essential oil of vinous odor; and finally, all the vegetable and mineral salts contained in the latest McKenne's translature of Duplais, alcoholic liquors, p. 99.
Champagnes contain an appreciable quantity of carbonic acid gas in addition to the above.
WHITE PEPPER.
starches, flour. Of four samples analyzed in Connecticut, two were adulterated.
* Poisonous.
ADULTERANTS OF DRUGS.
Drugs are often tinctured with an excess of alcohol, so thatthe strength of the mixture becomes a matter of great uncertainty. Dr. Chancellor, secretary Maryland State board of health says :
As regards the purity of medicine, we all know that this varies: and this variance is. unfortunately, not always due to natural cause. Sometimes it is, but only too often do we find it to he the work of persons who have a sole regard for the " filthy lucre "' with which they hope to till their purses, and who are utterly indifterent to the evil consequences which their wicked deeds may bring upon sulfering mankind. Yet there is no law in our State to correct tbis growing evil, no law to punish the wretch ujean enough to rob from his unsuspectiug, suffering fellowman what is often the last anchor of hope. There exists a rivalry in the commerce in medicine as there is in the commerce as in all other merchantable articles, and if one only seeks he can purchase them at almost any price. There is no class of articles so important to the people as medicine, and at the same time no class of articles of which the people are so poor a judge, and in which fraud can be so easily and so deeply hidden, and in which this fraud is so difficult of exposure.
On page 502 of the 2sew York report, Prof. Willis G. Tucker, State analyst says :
The work done during the past four years has received the hearty commendation of both manufacturers and leading dealers throughout the State, and is believed to have had an important influence in improving the quality of the drugs dispensed and in inciting dealers to greater carefulness in their preparation and sale.
SALICYLIC ACID.
This article is extremely dangerous as an adulterant, being used so indiscriminately and so profusely. A man who drinks a glass of beer may not feel the efl'ects of the drug, but as many people drink twenty to thirty glasses, it can readily be seen that an undue quantity of this preservative may be absorbed in the system, especially if vegetables are eaten that have it used to preserve them, to which may be added a moderate amount to preserve the meat eaten, and when we remember that it will keep preserves and pickles, and jellies, and keep fruits, one can readily see how easy it is to dose oneself upon this wonderful preservative of everything but the human system.
Prof. H. A. Weber, of ttie Ohio University. Columbus, in a report to State dairy and food commission, makes the following somewhat extended statement, but the subject-matter is of such importance that it is given in full :
In connection with this discovery of the use of salicylic acid in such a common and liberally-consumed article as sweet cider, it may be well to mention that in
ADULTERANTS OF DRUGS.
73
recent years recipes, claimed to be patented and guaranteed to be perfectly harmless, have been sold by the thousands to private families all over the country for preserv- ing fruits, vegetables, etc. In one of these recipes the following quantities of sali- cylic acid are prescribed :
For small fruits, as currants, strawberries, raspberries, etc., 18 grains salicylic acid to 1 quart of water.
For hard fruit, as peaches, pears, watermelons, etc., 35 grains salicylic acid to 1 quart of water.
For vegetables, as beans, pease, green corn, asparagus, etc., 52 grains of salicylic acid to 1 quart of water. For pickles, 24 grains of salicylic acid to 1 quart of vinegar. For sweet pickles, the same.
For preserves, jams, and apple butter, 14 grains dry salicylic acid to 1 gallon of fruit and 1 quart of sugar, after cooking to a thick preserve.
That salicylic acid is employed in enormous quantities as a food preservative may be inferred from the fact that a single druggist of this city sold during the past sea- son 500 ounces of the drug, all of which, he thinks, was used for this purpose.
When a drug is used thus extensively, and in such a variety of articles of daily food, it is due the public to be informed of its nature and etfects, and for this pur- pose the following is respectfully submitted :
Preparation. — Salicylic acid occurs in nature in the oil of wintergreen as an ether, methyl salicylate. From this substance it was formerly prepared. It is now made artificially from phenol (carbolic acid). When pure it forms white, needle-shaped crystals, without odor, and of a sweetish taste.
Pro/;er/tes. —Salicylic acid is a powerful antiseptic, i. e., it retards the action of or- ganized ferments like the yeast plant and putrefactive bacteria. Thus it hinders or prevents fermentation, the souring of milk and other liquids, the putrefaction of meat, etc. It is this property which has brought it into such a common use as a pre- servative of food. But the action of salicylic acid upon unorganized ferments is even more powerful. Thus it prevents the formation of prussic acid by amygdalin in emulsions of almond seeds. It completely arrests the conversion of starch into grape sugar by diastase and pancreatic extracts as first shown by H. Letfman and W. Beam (Analyst, volume 13, p. 103), and corroborated by experiments in the physi- ological laboratory of our own townsman, Dr. A. M. Bleile, The minute quantity of one part of the acid in one-thousand parts of the mixture is sufficient to produce this effect. As this action is diametrically opposed to the process of digestion, the use of salicylic acid in daily articles of food should be condemned for this reason alone.
Physiological efects. — The dose of salicylic acid as a medicine is from 10 to 40 grains. For children the dose is much smaller. Although the maximum dose would rarely, if ever, be reached in the consumption of food preserved with the drug, yet the minimum dose if continued for a long time might produce equal disorders, and this dose can readily be exceeded, especially if a variety of foods and drinks thus pre- served are consumed at the same meal. This danger is increased by the fact that several days may intervene before the druj^ is completely eliminated from the system after it is taken, although it speedily enters into the circulation.
From the physiological actions of the drug as reported in the National Dispensa- tory, the following may be cited :
" Plants watered wi th a solution of salicylic acid speedily die. One grain of sodium salicylate introduced under the skin of a frog renders the animal languid and then occasions complete motor paralysis and arrest of the heart. Guinea pigs, after a dose of 60 to 70 grains, grow rapidly weak, lie down and drag their limbs, which move spasmodically ; then respiration grows shallower until it ceases.
"Experiments on dogs: (1) moderate doses occasion nausea, salivation, vomiting, and diarrhea; (2) the senses of sight and hearing appear somewhat dull; (3) the respiration is quickened, the temperature increased, except in fever, when it is re-
74
ADULTERANTS OF DRUGS.
duced ; (4) the central nervous system is affected only by large doses, -wbicli abolish sensibility and vitality, and spasms precede death ; (5) after death, the stomach, in- testines, liver, and kidneys are congested; the brain and spinal cord also appear con- gested.
Effects on man : In full medicinal doses salicylic acid usually caused buzzing, hum- ming, and rushing sounds in the ears, v^^ith more or less deafness. Headache is not unusual and may be attended with dullness and an uncertain gait. Blindness for ten hours is reported. When fever exists delirium is readily induced by the medicine, especially in nervous patients, and it is apt to be accompanied with phantasms and violence, as in delirium tremens. Difficulty of breathing and palpitation of the heart are ordinary effects of the medicine. Hence it should be a rule never to prescribe the medicine in case of heart or lung troubles. In cases of disease, enormous doses have been given without any apparent serious effects. On the other hand, cases of death are reported by doses not exceeding 150 grains per day, and one case after four doses of only 15 grains had been taken."
Fortunately the toxical effects of the drug are counteracted by the nutrients of the food taken. Otherwise the results of its general and indiscriminate use would be baneful indeed. But this statement does not justify its employment as a food preserv- ative. The property of the drug pointed out above is not changed by the presence of nutrients, and its physiological actions are of such a nature that it should be admin- istered only under the direction and care of a competent physician, and not betaken indiscriminately by everyone in all conditions of health and disease.
Salicylic acid can, therefore, find no legitimate place in our daily food. Its use by private families should be discontinued, and its occurrence in commercial food pro- ducts should be condemned by all who are interested in public welfare.
PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK REPORTS.
The reports herein contained, taken from the Pennsylvania and New York reports, are very extended and probably confined to too circum- scribed a territory, but as undoubtedly more attention is given to the adulteration of drugs in these two States than any other, the reports quoted are not only the most reliable that can be obtained, but thej certainly are the fairest to the manufacturer, and dealers, as they having had the fullest knowledge of the law on the subject and the intention of the authorities to inspect them, if they contiuned to sell adulterated goods it was done with a full knowledge of the consequences.
MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ADULTERATIONS AND DETERIORATIONS OF PENN- SYLVANIA PHARMACECTICAL ASSOCIATION, 1889.
[Extracts Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association.]
The work carried on by the coniuiittee this year has been greatly advanced by a few members furnishing samples. The number, however, that responded to the ap- peal for samples was a very small proportion of the total membership — they can easily be counted — as follows : Messrs. J. H. Stein, B. A. Kelly, L. Emanuel, C. A, Randolph, J. F. Patton, G. W. Kennedy, W. H. McGarrah, S. S. Jones, and M. N. Kline.
A number of students in the chemical laboratory of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy also contributed their time and made a number of analyses. Mr. William
ADUiTEEANTS OP DRUGS.
75
Handler examiued six samples of simple sirup purchased of retail druggists in Phil- adelphia, with the following results:
|
Sample. |
Cane sugar. |
Glucose. |
Kemarks. |
|
Per cent. |
Per cent. |
||
|
A |
60. 00 |
1.28 |
|
|
B |
65. 30 |
0. 38 |
Contained traces of ultramarine. |
|
C |
66.30 |
0.88 |
|
|
D.... |
40. 00 |
5. 87 |
Had fermented. |
|
E |
64. 13 |
1.98 |
Yellow in color. Called white rock candy sirup. |
|
F |
68.16 |
0. 89 |
Mr. Charles A. Schwaeke assayed eight samples of household am- monia. All were in 1-pint bottles except sample 5, which measured 12 ounces The results were as here tabulated :
|
Sample. |
Ammonia, |
Price. |
|
Per cent. |
Cents. |
|
|
1 |
3. 72 |
20 |
|
2 |
4. 52 |
20 |
|
3 |
5. 25 |
9 |
|
4 |
5.35 |
15 |
|
5 |
6. 75 |
8 |
|
6 |
7.49 |
25 |
|
7 |
8. 58 |
15 |
|
8 |
10.00 |
15 |
Source.
Keiail drug store . ... Retail grocery store .
Dry goods store
, do
do
Retail drug store
Dry goods store
Wholesale drug store
Remarks.
Contained borax. Do.
It will be seen from this that price does not always indicate quality.
Mr. Harry S. Wood determined the strength of commercial glacial acetic acid and found two qualities in the market under that name, one containing about 80 per cent and the other 99 to 100 per cent of the absolute acid. In this case the price is a consideration, the absolute acid can always be gotten, generally with the exact per- centage strength on the label, if the pharmacist is willing to pay the price. The absolute acid is easily recognized by its power to dissolve an equal volume of fresh oil of lemon.
Mr. Charles E. McCloskey found powdered belladouna root from different whole- sale druggists of Philadelphia to yield from 0.2 to 0.4 per cent, and the leaves 0.04 to 0.24 per cent of alkaloid.
Mr. A. G. Hostetter, noticing the statement frequently made that potassium tar- trate is often impure or adulterated, found all the samples from the manufacturers in this State to be very good, containing only traces of calcium salts, sulphuric, hydrochloric, and carbonic acids.
Mr. G. M. Grosse found reduced iron to be of poor quality, one sample only answer- ing to the requirements of the Pharmacopoeia. They ranged from 18.43 to 88.40 per cent, the highest being of German and the lowest of French manufacture. Those of American make, being obtained from the stock bottles of retail pharmacists, had no doubt deteriorated by long exposure to the oxidizing action of