p. 11 | Beware of Sausages

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 22, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 21.

Beware of Sausages.

The Daily Mail of March 19 published an article concerning the secrets of the sausage trade, which was calculated to cause profound misgiving in the minds of those who have been in the habit of courting physical disaster by eating these highly-flavored bags of mystery. It appears that, in order to keep the contents from going bad, preservatives—the use of which is described as “legitimate and necessary”—are employed, such as borax, boric acid, salicylic acid, formaldehyde, and other drugs. From one-half to one ounce of boric acid is used for each ten pounds of sausage, and the writer of the article remarks:—

“Every time you eat a half pound of sausages, therefore, perhaps you will take a medicinal dose of boric acid, and if you are a regular sausage-eater, your stomach will be in a nice state at the end of the year.”

Amongst the ingredients used, according to the standard work on “Sausages,” from which the writer quotes, are “cheap meats,” snouts, ears, hearts, sinewy and tough meat, calves’ lungs, etc. These are flavored and disguised by pepper, sage, thyme, mace, nutmeg, allspice, and coloring matters. One has only to let one’s imagination suggest all that may lie behind the words “cheap meat” in order to conjure up the vision of the “carrion butcher,” and certain forms of flesh, which shall be nameless, but which are hastily chopped up to prevent recognition if a possible visit from the inspector should take place.

How is it that any intelligent person can resist the temptation to forswear these questionable delicacies forevermore?—Selected.