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

Poisonous Mineral Colors.

—In the early days of the manufacturing of confectionery salts of lead and compounds of chromium, as well as compounds of other metals such as copper, etc., were employed for coloring purposes. The use of these bodies is now extremely rare, however, if it is ever practiced, and hence may be regarded as a practice of the past.

Glucose Containing Harmful Substances.

—The bleaching of glucose by sulfurous acid naturally leads to the introduction into candies of this substance. It is present in minute quantities, however, and if the glucose is carefully made, I may add, in negligible quantities. The danger of over-sulfuring must not be forgotten and it is difficult to draw a line of demarkation between what may be regarded as negligible and injurious quantities. The abandonment, therefore, of the use of sulfur must be regarded as the only safe way of protecting the consumer against an adulteration of this kind. The use of poisonous flavoring is perhaps more extensive than is generally recognized, especially of that flavor which is supposed to be characteristic of the kernel of the peach, namely, benzaldehyde or its derivatives. There is also a small amount of hydrocyanic acid in the kernels of the peach, almond, etc. This is a very deadly substance and no artificial preparation of it should ever be used. If there be any flavor of this kind in a confection it should be derived solely from the almond or similar nuts which contain only minute traces. While nature, as is well known, places poisonous substances in many food products, they have been so skilfully combined as to render their effect the least harmful. When man produces a similar poisonous article artificially and adds it to a food, the poisonous effect thereof is undoubtedly increased. Hence the use of artificial harmful flavors of any kind in a food product, especially confectionery, is utterly reprehensible and unpardonable.

Alcohol.

—Alcohol has been placed in different forms in confectionery, sometimes enclosed as drops within the saccharine substance. This must be regarded as an adulteration of a very reprehensible character, since these products are eaten so much by children and the danger of injury from the alcohol and the danger of forming a habit from eating it in this way is extremely great. This form of adulteration is specifically forbidden by the national law. In view of the fact that children and young persons of both sexes, and especially girls, eat confectionery so largely it is incumbent upon every manufacturer to see that no raw material is employed in his processes and no flavoring or coloring or other added ingredient used which is in any way under suspicion as being a harmful or deleterious substance. Manufacturers should remember that a mere certificate of purity from the person making these substances is of little value whatever. Even if the statements made in such certificates are true they will always be under suspicion, because it would be supposed that they were made for the purpose of furthering trade rather than for the protection of the consumer. In the case of two experts of like honesty and like industry, one employed for the purpose of giving a certificate to the article of food and one whose researches are entirely independent of any commercial relations, the public will generally give the decision of the latter a greater weight. Inspection officers under state and national food and drug acts should give especial attention to the subject of confectionery as an article of diet almost universally employed and consumed by a class of the community most susceptible to injury.

HONEY.

Honey is defined as the nectar of flowers, gathered and stored by the honey bee (Apis melifica). While the above is a good definition there is often found in honey saccharine exudations of the plant other than the nectar of flowers. Many plants contain sugar in their saps and when an exudation of sap takes place and the water in the sap is evaporated a saccharine residue remains which is also gathered by the bee. Many trees, especially of the pine family, exude a sweet sap when stung by a kind of louse (aphis) and this is also gathered by the bees. Thus while there may be other exudations of the plant found in honey the fact remains that the true honey is gathered exclusively from the nectar of the flowering plant. A honey which is made by feeding bees sugar sirup or other artificial sugar food cannot be regarded as a genuine article. The feeding of bees, while a strictly legitimate practice, should be confined to keeping them over periods of famine or the keeping of them alive during the winter or at other times when they do not have access to the flowering plant.

Historical.

—Honey has been used by man for food from the remotest antiquity. In fact, in earlier times honey was the only sugar substance at the disposition of man. He had not yet learned the sources of great supply which now are at his command or if he had he was not familiar with the technical processes of preparing the commercial article. Honey is approximately a pure saccharine substance and this, in addition to its peculiar and, to most people, pleasant flavor, not only gave it a vogue in the earlier times of necessity but has maintained it in public favor when other and cheaper sources of saccharine substances have been developed. In fact, at the present time it might be said that honey owes its value upon the market not to the fact that it is a saccharine body but that it contains flavors and aromas imparted to it by the flower and by the bee which render it a luxury rather than a necessity of life.