ADULTERATION OF FOODS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 26, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 21.

ADULTERATION OF FOODS.

THE Pennsylvania State Board of Health has been doing good work in the chemical examination of foods upon the market. The Annals of Hygiene gives the following:—

Take, for example, the results obtained in the examination of canned peas. Of forty-three samples of these goods put up in this country, 67.4 per cent were colored with copper, and the amount of copper contained in many of the samples was large. Of thirty-six samples of French peas purchased in this country, all were found to be colored with copper except one, and that was colored with zinc. Further, the amount of copper in these samples was quite large. Obviously, the salts are used solely to secure and preserve in the vegetables a green color, thus adding to the attractiveness of their appearance. It may, indeed, be granted, as stated in the Bulletin, that the occasional use of a small quantity of a copper or zinc salt will not be accompanied by any practical injury to health, but certainly the regular and long-continued use of such metallic salts must, at least, be regarded as prejudicial to health. In any event, the consumer has a right to know the character of the material he is purchasing for his table, and may justly demand protection from such possible sources of danger.