Foods and Their Adulteration / Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and Regulations

by Harvey Washington Wiley

OLEOMARGARINE.

Oleomargarine is the name applied to any fatty substance which is prepared to be used in the same manner as butter. Oleomargarine is defined by Act of Congress as follows:

An Act defining butter, also imposing a tax upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of oleomargarine. (Approved August 2, 1886.)

“That for the purposes of this act certain manufactured substances, certain extracts, and certain mixtures and compounds, including such mixtures and compounds with butter, shall be known and designated as “oleomargarine,” namely: All substances heretofore known as oleomargarine, oleo, oleomargarine oil, butterine, lardine, suine, and neutral; all mixtures and compounds of oleomargarine, oleo, oleomargarine oil, butterine, lardine, suine, and neutral; all lard extracts and tallow extracts; and all mixtures and compounds of tallow, beef fat, suet, lard, lard oil, vegetable oil, annotto, and other coloring matter, intestinal fat, and offal fat made in imitation or semblance of butter, or, when so made, calculated or intended to be sold as butter or for butter.”

The manufacture of oleomargarine can only take place in the United States under the supervision of officials of the Internal Revenue. All oleomargarine which is artificially colored a yellow or yellowish tint in semblance of natural butter pays an internal revenue tax of 10 cents per pound. Oleomargarine uncolored pays a revenue tax of one-fourth cent per pound. Oleomargarine when made under proper sanitary conditions from sanitary raw materials is a wholesome and nutritious article of diet and usually can be sold at a smaller price than butter. It is especially a food product which commends itself to those who are under the necessity of practising strict economy in the cost of food in the family. The principal objection, and in fact the only valid objection, to its use is found in the frauds which have been committed in its manufacture and sale. There has been a constant disposition on the part of dishonest manufacturers and dealers, since the time when oleomargarine became a commercial commodity, to sell it as butter. Although the penalties of national and state laws are very severe in this respect the practice is continued. The opportunity for gain is so great that the cupidity of the manufacturer overcomes his fear of punishment and disgrace. With a more rigid national and state inspection, it is reasonable to hope that this fraudulent use of oleomargarine can be avoided and the pure, unadulterated article under its own name be supplied to those who prefer it either on account of its properties or its price.

Materials Used in the Manufacture of Oleomargarine.

—Neutral Lard.—One of the principal basic components of oleomargarine is neutral lard or lard stearin, the properties of which have already been described. Beef fat stearin is another basic ingredient of oleomargarine and is the stearin derived from tallow or tallow itself. Beef fat has a higher melting point than lard and beef fat stearin a still higher melting point than the tallow. Hence it forms an ideal ingredient with which to mix the oily components which enter so largely into the manufacture of oleomargarine. The beef fat or beef fat stearin is easily distinguished by means of the microscope. It forms beautiful radiated fan-like crystals, the characteristic appearance of which is shown in [Fig. 9], page 67.

Cottonseed Oil and Cottonseed Oil Stearin.

—These are also important ingredients of oleomargarine affording the oily or more liquid constituents which, when mixed with the lard and stearin above mentioned, form a compound the melting point of which is slightly above that of butter and sufficient to maintain it in an unmelted state even in warm weather. The quantities in which these different ingredients are used vary greatly in different manufacturing establishments and depend largely upon the location where the oleomargarine is to be used. When manufactured for tropical or subtropical regions larger quantities of stearin are employed than when used in temperate zones or for winter consumption, in which case larger quantities of cottonseed oil and cottonseed oil stearin are employed with the mixture. After the fats are mixed it is usually the practice to churn them with milk in order to give a flavor of butter to the product. In some cases the yolk of eggs is mixed with oleomargarine, as it is claimed that they impart thereto a firmer and more homogeneous structure which renders the mass better, especially for cooking purposes. All the ingredients which are used in the manufacture of oleomargarine are made known and recorded in the books of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and thus it is a product which it may be said is strictly under government supervision.

Description of Process of Manufacture.

—The fat is taken from the cattle in the process of slaughtering, and after thorough washing is placed in a bath of clean, cold water, and surrounded with ice, where it is allowed to remain until all animal heat has been removed. It is then cut into small pieces by machinery and cooked at a temperature of about 150 degrees until the fat, in liquid form, has separated from the fibrine or tissue, then settled until it is perfectly clear. Then it is drawn into graining vats and allowed to stand a day, when it is ready for the presses. The pressing extracts the stearin, leaving the remaining product, which is commercially known as oleo oil, which, when churned with cream or milk or both and with or without a proportion of creamery butter, the whole being properly salted, gives the well-known food-product, oleomargarine.

Adulteration of Oleomargarine.

—Since the coloring of oleomargarine is permitted upon the payment of a tax, oleomargarine which is colored cannot be said to be adulterated when the tax has been paid, although if coloring were not a legalized operation it would be an adulteration. Yellow oleomargarine is an imitation of natural butter and its manufacture should be prohibited unless the product is marked “imitation.” The character of the coloring materials used is not prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue but as a rule the coal tar dyes are preferred in the coloring of oleomargarine to the vegetable coloring matter such as annotto and saffron. The remarks which have been made in connection with the use of poisonous materials in other products apply to oleomargarine.

Adulteration with Egg Yolks.

—An adulteration which has been practiced in this country is the admixture of preserved egg yolks. Usually these yolks are secured in China, broken, and placed in vessels and preserved with borax or boric acid or salt. These eggs are generally collected during the early spring and summer months and are not sent to the United States until the fall or winter. The importation of such articles is now prohibited under the food laws of the country so that the adulterations with the imported article is no longer to be feared. It is possible to preserve domestic eggs in the same way, and the use of them in this manner is regarded as an adulteration, since such preserved egg products cannot be regarded as suitable for human food.

Adulteration with Preservatives.

—Fortunately preservatives are not used to any extent in the manufacture of oleomargarine when intended for domestic use. The most suitable preservative in such a case as this would be borax or boric acid. It is not believed that these preservatives are used to any extent when the product is intended for domestic consumption. Whether or not preservatives are used in the product sent abroad I am unable to say.

Production of Oleomargarine.

—According to the report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue the quantity of oleomargarine taxed at 10 cents a pound produced in the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, was 5,584,684 pounds, and for 1906, 4,888,968 pounds. The quantity produced in 1906 taxed at one-fourth cent a pound was 50,545,914 pounds.

COMPOSITION OF OLEOMARGARINE.

Specific Gravity at 40°C.	Water.	Insoluble Acid.	Sol. Acid by Washing Out.	Sol. Acid by Distillation.	Salt.	Albuminoids.
.90490	9.34	93.59	0.12	0.25	3.64	0.35

From the above data it is seen that the objections to the use of oleomargarine are more on the grounds of fraud and deception than in regard to nutritive and dietetic value. The components used in the manufacture of oleomargarine, when properly made, are all wholesome and digestible materials such as are consumed in eating various food products. It does not appear, therefore, that any valid objection can be made against the use of oleomargarine from a physiological or hygienic standpoint.