ADULTERATION OF FOOD

The adulteration of food, in its strictest sense includes only the admixture with it of substances of le value, but the phrase as now used covers the use of preservatives (which, pound for pound, may be very much higher in price than the food in which they are used) and the abstraction from food of the whole or part of its more valuable constituents, as in the case of the removal of cream from milk. In the year 1881, the U. S. Department of Agriculture began an investigation into the nature and extent of food adulteration in this country. The first Food Inspection Law was pa ed by the State of Ma achusetts in 1883, while the national Pure Food and Drug Law was enacted in 1906, at which time tweiity-five states had formulated speciai regulations regarding the purity and labelling of food products. Partly as a result of this legislation there has been a great improvement in the purity of foods of American origin during the last thirty years. Moreover, the manufacturer has found that there is more money to be made out of pure foods honestly labelled than out of adulterated products. As a result, adulteration is now the exception rather than the rule. Probably le than five per cent of food products, bought at random, would now be found to be adulterated, and adulteration which is injurious to health is very unusual. The most common adulterations existing today are the admixture of chicory with ground coffee, or of various ‘fillers’ with spices, the adulteration of butter with cocoanut or other oils, the dilution of milk with water and the extraction of the whole or part of the cream from milk. Among the fillers used in spices may be mentioned ground peanut and cocoanut shells in pepper and turmeric in mustard. The use of chicory in coffee was formerly very common and still occurs to a considerable extent. In fact, it is even claimed that chicory improves the flavor of the coffee, but its chief purpose is to produce a fictitious strength. Flour has been mixed with mineral matter and even sawdust, sirups and honey are adulterated with glucose, and Jellies are mixec with gelatin glucose and fruits of lower price than those named on the label. Olive oil was formerly mixed with cotton seed or sesame oil to a large extent, and the practice is by no means unknown today. Ai these adulterations can be readily detected by | chemical analysis or microscopical examination. Over the use of preservatives, ‘a bitter fight has been waged. ‘It is claimed, on one side, that the quantities used are so small that they cannot have any adverse effect on those consuming the food in which they are used. On the other side, the argument is put forward that if preservatives are permitted in one food product, they must be permitted in all, and while the percentage in each product might be small, the — sum total in all the foods eaten during a day might be appreciable. The opinion which now finds most favor is that pure foods, properly prepared and packed, need no preservatives to prevent them from decomposing.