Food should be emptied from the can as soon as it is opened, as the action of the air hastens deterioration. No cooked fruit should be allowed to stand in a tin saucepan or other vessel. It should be emptied as soon as the cooking process is complete.
When a can of fruit, vegetables, or meat is opened, if the interior of the can is even partially black, it is safe to reject the contents. The tin in the food will be absorbed in the intestinal tract and may cause severe disturbance.
Large canners of fruit and vegetables, of the better quality, are now coating the inside of the can with an insoluble varnish which prevents the acids from acting on the tin.
The best canners are exceedingly careful and everything in their factories is scrupulously clean.
THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD
Laws against food adulteration have been enacted, but unscrupulous manufacturers find ways to evade them. On account of these laws, however, the practice is less general and manufacturers are beginning to take pride in putting up goods that pass the strictest inspection. The people, also, are being aroused, through the efforts of the pure-food propagandists, to the ill effects of adulterated foods both on the body and the pocketbook and are increasingly demanding that the foods they buy shall be pure and wholesome.
To lessen the cost of production, many foods are mixed with various substances before being marketed in order to increase the profits of the manufacturer or dealer. The contained substance may not be deleterious to health, but it may lessen the value of the article as a food.
Among foods which may be so adulterated are jellies, jams and marmalades, catsups and pickles of all varieties, baking powder, butter, spices, coffee, corn-starch, mincemeat, vinegar, syrups, sugar, honey, lard, and flour.
Various adulterants which are used are: wood alcohol (a poison) in flavoring extracts; vinegar made from various acids and colored to imitate cider vinegar; rice flour and wheat flour used in ground spices; kaolin and coloring matter used in candies; paraffin in gum drops; glucose artificially flavored as maple syrup; cotton-seed oil sold as olive oil; starch and sugar in powdered cocoa and in chocolate; chicory, sugar, and pea meal in ground coffee; artificial coffee beans made of starch, molasses, and chicory; alum and ammonia in baking powders; artificial coloring of canned peas, beans, and catsups, butter, cheese, milk, and cream.
It must be said, in justice, however, that housewives are responsible for many of these productions. Dealers who would be glad to sell only pure articles say that “the trade won’t have them.”