“Don’t pay the price of fresh goods for cold storage products. Every grocer who sells cold storage products must hang in his store a placard to that effect, and if he misrepresents cold storage products as fresh, he can be prosecuted. Train him to tell you the truth.
“Adulteration is, to-day, less of a menace to the housewife than substitution. I will consider adulteration later, in connection with honest and dishonest labels.
“These two cans of peaches represent the dangers of substitution. You see, they are the same size, with equally attractive labels. This can, ‘California Fruits,’ sells for twenty-three cents. The other can, ‘Table Fruits,’ sells at seventeen cents. The difference lies in the flavor and richness of the sirup. The twenty-three-cent can has a heavy sirup and the fruit tastes a little like the preserves your mother used to make. The seventeen-cent can has a lighter sirup, and the fruit tastes more like fresh fruit stewed instead of preserved. The fruit was in equally good condition when canned. The difference is in the size of the peaches and the amount of sugar used only. The housekeeper gets exactly the same nutritive value for seventeen cents that she does for twenty-three cents—the difference is in the flavor.
“The cheaper peaches belong in the class of canned goods commonly known to housekeepers as ‘seconds,’ They are sold by unscrupulous grocers as A-1 goods, ‘specially reduced,’ And when a can of fruit which ought to sell for seventeen cents is ‘specially priced’ at twenty, the housekeeper wastes three cents. The same is true of canned vegetables, pickles, preserves, meats, soups, puddings, etc.
“When you ask for a standard brand of goods, and the dealer tells you he is out of that brand, but can give you something just as good—make sure that it is just as good. Test its weight, if it is package goods, or its flavor. If you have several similar experiences with the same man, regard him with suspicion. He is not carrying standard goods.
“Now for the vexed question of labels. Under the Pure Food and Drug Act, a manufacturer must set forth certain facts on his label, the percentage of preservatives and coloring matter employed, etc. A certain percentage of preservative is not harmful, and certain coloring materials are not injurious. Authorities differ as to the exact amounts, but I would advise no housewife to purchase highly colored preserves, condiments, relishes, pickles, etc., without studying the label carefully.
“A high-grade ketchup, for instance, carries this label: ‘Tomato ketchup, preserved with one-tenth of one per cent. of benzoate of soda.’
“The housewife who buys this gets her money’s worth.
“Here is a tricky label: