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

Breakfast foods may also contain added condimental substances, such as salt, sugar, etc., sometimes used in their preparation. Nearly all the cereals or mixtures of cereals are represented in these prepared foods. Oats probably occupy the first rank and the preparations of oatmeal have to a large extent in the United States taken the place of home-prepared oatmeal for the breakfast table. Wheat, barley, and Indian corn are not far behind oats in their contributions to the numerous varieties of breakfast foods.

The particular methods of preparation are usually trade secrets and at any rate the description of the extensive technical processes would be improper in this manual. The secrets, however, are merely methods of manipulation, since it is certain that the changes of a chemical nature which take place are of the general character or class described above.

Breakfast foods are usually sold under trade-mark names which may or may not give an indication of their origin or character. Sometimes, in fact, the trade name gives a false indication and the use of such trade names must be considered as entirely reprehensible. Whenever a name used is descriptive it should be used in a practical sense and not for the purpose of misleading or deceiving. Breakfast foods may represent practically the whole grain or the grain with a removal of a proportion of the outer covering or they may represent the refined flour from which all or a considerable proportion of the germ and some of the rich nitrogenous ingredients have been removed.

The attempt to give a list of the names which have been applied to breakfast foods would consume many pages and be of little value.

Composition of Breakfast Foods.

—In so far as possible the breakfast foods noted in the following tables have been arranged in accordance with the raw material from which they have been produced and the data given represent the average composition of breakfast foods of the classes mentioned. Individual variations from the average are often very great.

Class	I.	—	Breakfast foods made from Indian corn products.
Class	II.	—	Breakfast foods made from wheat products.
Class	III.	—	Breakfast foods made from oat products.
Class	IV.	—	Breakfast foods made from starch and tapioca.
Class	V.	—	Breakfast foods made from noodles, spaghetti, and macaroni.
Class	VI.	—	Breakfast foods made from barley.
Class	VII.	—	Breakfast foods of miscellaneous origin, that is consisting of those compounds of raw material not specified.

COMPOSITION OF BREAKFAST FOODS. [28]

	Moisture.	Proteids.	Ether Extract.	Fiber.	Ash.	Starch and Sugar.	Calories. Per Gram.
	Perct.	Perct.	Perct.	Perct.	Perct.	Perct.
Class I, Indian Corn Products:
In the original substance,	12.33	7.92	0.58	0.67	0.66	78.51	...
In the dry substance,	..	9.02	0.66	0.76	0.75	98.57	4385
Class II, Wheat Products:
In the original substance,	10.08	12.01	1.80	1.48	1.55	75.62	...
In the dry substance,	..	13.36	2.01	1.65	16.73	84.08	4462
Class III, Oat Products:
In the original substance,	7.66	15.32	7.46	1.20	1.79	67.61	...
In the dry substance,	..	16.60	8.08	1.38	1.94	73.20	4875
Class IV, Starch and Tapioca Products:
In the original substance,	11.29	.39	.03	.13	.14	88.15	...
In the dry substance,	..	.43	.04	.15	.16	99.37	4193
Class V, Noodles, Spaghetti and Macaroni:
In the original substance,	9.66	12.02	.42	.56	.78	77.12	...
In the dry substance,	..	13.33	.47	.62	.86	85.34	4428
Class VI, Barley Products:
In the original substance,	10.92	7.50	.89	.67	.86	80.35	...
In the dry substance,	..	8.42	1.00	.75	.97	90.19	4344
Class VII, Miscellaneous Products:
In the original substance,	6.41	12.81	1.05	.99	1.06	78.68	...
In the dry substance,	..	13.68	1.12	1.04	1.13	84.07	4449

[28] U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Bull. 13, Part IX, p. 1345.