Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1879 — ADULTERATED FOODS. [ARTICLE]

ADULTERATED FOODS.

Some Astonishing Statements by I*l-06 Angel 1. At the recent meet irtf of the Social Science Association, at Saratoga, N. Y., a paper was read by George T. Angell, of Boston, on the “ Manufacture and Sale of Poisonous and Dangerously Adulterated Articles,” in which there are many statements calculated to astonish even the most careless and indifferent. We reproduce some extracts from Mr. Angell’s highly interesting essay: The common and wide sale in American markets of poisonous and adulterated articles which endanger the health and lives of those who use them is a fact established beyond all possibility of honest aeniaL They are found in our food, our drink, our clothing; in the cooking utensils used in our kitchens, in lhe pipes that carry our water, in the carpets and wall-papers that beautify our houses, in the colored papers and toys which aro tho playthings of onr children. In the fierce competition of trade the dangerous and cheaper articles are gradually driving the safer and more expensive out of our markets. And this process seems likely to go oh and increase without limit, unless organized action shall be taken to stop their manufacture and sale. Take our groceries, for instance. In the report of the Canadian Commissioner of Inland Rr. venire, published in 1877, it appears that out of 180 articles analyzed ninety-three were found to be adulterated. In the 1874 report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health many of these adulterations are given, some dangerous. In the “ Grocer’s Manual,” a book recently prepared exuressly for the use of grocers, I find many named, some of which I will give. For instance, cream of tartar, seldom found in the shops over 30 per cent, pure, the balance being terra alba, or white earth (a dangerous article tending to produce kidney complaints and various diseases of the stomach), and various other adulterants. Cayanne pepper, debased with red ochre, cinnabar, vermilion, and sulphuret of mercury, and usually the color preserved by red lead and Venetian red ; chicory, dangerously adulterated. In cocoa, rod lead, ochre, red vermilion to color, and sulphate or carbonate of lime to give weight. Pea flour, colored with Venetian red, used to adulterate coffee Essence of coffee is made of various articles which color the cups of our cheap restaurants. In confectionery, reds and pinks are produced by cochineal, red lead, and bichromate of lead; yellow by chromate of lead, gamboge, turmeric, and Naples yellow; blues by litmus, indigo, Prussian blue, carbonate of copper, etc.; greens by acetate of copper, arsenate of copper, emerald green, Schule’s green, Brunswick green, etc., terra alba, chalk, etc., being used to give weight. Curry powder is made with lead and mercury. Out of ten pounds of pure honey is made a hundred of a fine-looking compound, some of the samples of which will turn tea inky black. Liquors and wines, as a rule, manufactured from cheap rums and whiskies, very little pure liquors being now sold. Sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol), used in making port wine, also in making sherry wine, also malt ale, also in making Madeira wines. Milk, debased with water, flour, starch, gum, turmeric, chalk, sugar, carbonate of soda and cerebral matter. Cream made by the use of gums. Mustard, seldom sold pure in the shops (and, I would add, often poisonous). Olive oil, falsified by oil from hemp, cotton, rape, peanut and mustard seed. Pickles made green with acetate of copper, a deadly poisoD. (I would add that all bright-greeu pickles are said to bo poisonous.) Preserved meats are colored with ochre and red lead. Bottles bearii.g the b.’ ands of well-kuown sauces, as Worcestershire, etc., are filled with stuff bought by the gallon and flavored with dangerous chemicals. Soaps aro made with poisonous coloring matters which produce diseases of the skin. Teas are doctored and colored with arsenate of copper, verdigris, mineral green, Prussian blue, talc, clay, soapstone and a variety of other articles. This coloring process is carried on largely in New York and Philadelphia. Tho Japan teas are about as bad as the Chinese. Tobacco is made out of the leaves of other plants, to which are added, in cigars and snuff, chromate of Usad, oxide of leadancTother articles. Vinegar is made from preparations of lead, copper and sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol.) [1 would add that it is asserted upon what seems to be pretty reliable authority tiiat probably half the vinegar sold in our cities is rank poison ] These are only a few of the adulterations stated and referred to in this book, which is written for, and in the interest of, grocers and giving the methods by which they can detect these articles.

In regard to teas. I have the most conelusive evidence that, while they are usually adulterated before they reach this country, still they are largely adulterated and poisoned here; a friend of mine, partner in one of the largest importing tea-houses in Boston, and one of whose partners has resided several years in China, said to me, “I will not drink, nor will any member of my firm drink anything but the natural uncolored teas, noi would I advise any other man to do it, but we find it difficult to sell them. Public taste demands teas colored and faced, which I consider more or less poisonous, and some of them contain prussic acid.” I would add that the danger of adulterated teas in this country has recently much increased, because they are now shut out from England. In regard to coffee, not only is the ground article adulterated, but machines have been invented and used in this country to mold adulterations into the form of coffee-berries. It is frequently adulterated witli chicory, which is itself adultered with articles more dangerous. Now take sugars and sirups. The whole value of glucose imported into the United States in 1875 was *2,353; its importation in 18< i, two years later, amounted to *233,360, in addition to which vast quantities are now manufactured in the United States. This glucose is made by boiling corn starch with sulphuric acid (cil of vitriol), and then mixing it with lime; the glucose almost always retaius more or less of the sulphuric acid, and sometimes copperas, sulphate of lime, etc. To make it more salable it is called “grape” sugar, though no grapes are used in its manufacture. o .~ r - C. Kcdzie, President of the Michigan State Board of Health and Professor of Chemistry in the Michigan State Agricultural College, analyzed seventeen specimens of common table sirups, and found fifteen of them made of glucose; one of the fifteen contained 141 grains of oil of vitriol and 724 grains of lime to the gallon, and another, which had caused serious sickness in a whole family, seventy-two grains of oil of vitriol, twenty-eight of sulphate of iron (copperas), and 363 grains of lime to the gallon. I have evidence that glucose is used largely not only to adulterate cane sugars and sirups, but also maple sugar, candies, jellies, honey, etc., and that it is supposed that Bright’s disease of the kidneys is one of the results of its increased use. It appears also from Prof. Kedzie’s report that cheap sugars sold iu Michigan are generally adulterated, and that poisonous articles are used to color them. I have much evidence that a large portion of the sugars sold in New York city contain not only glucose, but also another insidious poison muriate of tin—which has been largely used for bleaching them. At a meeting of the United States Board of Trade, held in New York Nov. 13, 1878, Mr. Fuller, a retired sugar-dealer, declared that sugars, molasses and honey are now so adulterated that, although very fond of those articles, he did not dare to use them except in small quantities. In regard to “baking-powders,” the New York Evening Post of Jan. 6,1879, states that much alarm is felt in that city on account of their adulterations; that eminent phvsicians had been consulted; that more than’ 500 kinds of these baking-powders are now manufactured in America; that the price of alum is less than 3 cents a pound, while cream of tartar costs more than 30 cents; that the makers of these powders substitute alum for cream of tartar in part or altogether, and the result iB griping, constipation, indigestion, heartburn and dyspepsia; that the eminent New York chemist, Dr. Henry Mott, Jr., had recently analyzed sixteen of these powders, and found alum an important ipgredient in every one. An article by Dr. Mott in the Scientific American of Nov. 16, 18<8, states that these powders often contain, in addition to alum, terra alba, insoluble phosphate of lime, etc. In connection with the adulteration of groceries, I would state, also, that mills in various parts of the United States are now grinding thousands of tons of white stone into a fine powder, which sells for about, half a cent a pound, and that in some of these mills they grind three grades, called soda grade, sugar grade and flour grade. In regard to milk, it was estimated a few years since by a Boston sanitary commission that in a single year was paid in that city nearly *500,000 for water mixed with milk, and that this water was probably taken in many instances from dangerous sources, and was liable

to contain and carry germs of disease. It a-p pears from this year’s report of the Boston Milk Inspector, and Prof. Avery, who is employed to analyze milk seized by the Inspector, that probably the city of Boston paid during last year more than $680,0 0 for water mixed with milk How much of that water contained lead poison, or was taken from wells which receive the drainage of cesspools, it is of course impossible to determine. I have evidence that in at least two of our large cities from 90 to 95 per cent, of all milk sold is adulterated before it reaches the consumer, and that the deathrate of infants in my own city has been found to be in a given time more than four times what it was in a given population outside the city. I have evidence that both tho lactometer and creamoter are entirely unreliable to detect adulterations; that cream is made from white glue, and that various articles are added to milk to conceal the addition of water. Now let us take up oleomargarine butter and cheese. Move than 90,000,000 pounds of these articles were manufactured in the United States in 1878, much and probably most of it so carefully disguised that it is sold in the markets without detection. Mr. John Michels, an eminent microscopist of New York city, says that in the process of manufacturing tlie oleomargarine butter and cheese tho fat used is never subjeced to a higher temperature than 120 degrees Fahrenheit; that such butter may be still considered to be in a raw state; that any germs of disease, morbid secretions, or embryos of parasites in the animals from which the oil was obtained are liable to be transferred in a living condition into the systems of those who use this butter; that animals used for food are subject to the attacks of internal parasites that lodge in countless multitudes in all parts of their bodies; that some of the most dangerous forms will also live and thrive in man; that the trichinaj which enter the bedy at once breed by the million, and invade tho whole system from head to foot; that it is well known that living organisms have withstood a temperature much higher than that which caul fat is subjected to in the preparation of oleomargarine, and that even 190 decrees have been resisted by these germs; that it would not be strange if the caul fat from diseased animals, whose meat is not used for food, should often be sold fer this purpose; that he has found in oleomargarine animal tissues, with fragments and cells of suspicious nature; that ho has reason to believe that refuse fat of at least one pork-packing establishment is used in its manufacture, and that he views .with anxiety its introduction as an article of food. Prof. Church states that he has found in oleomai garine, "by analysis, horse fat, fat from bones, and waste fat, such as is used for making candles. _ in regard to drugs, an eminent medical gentleman of Boston skid to me some time since: “ The adulterations of drugs in this country are perfectly abominable.” In regard to our meats 1 have the most overwhelming evidence that thousands of tons of the meats of diseased animals are annually sold in our markets, and that the detection of these meats, after they have been dressed, and put into the stalls, is in most cases impossible.Now let us consider tho subject of .poisoning by arsenic. Tho amount of arsenic imported into this country during the year ending Juno 30, 1875, was two million, three hundred and twenty-seven thousand, seven bundled and forty-two pounds (2,327,742). Each pound contained a fatal dose for about2,Boo adult human beings. It is sold in our markets almost as freely as wood and coal, at a wholesale price of from a cent and a half to two cents a pound. What becomes of it?

I answer ,it is used in wall-papers, paper curtains, lamp-shades, boxes, wrapping-papers for confectionery, tickets, cards, children’s kindergarten papers, artificial flowers, dried grasses, eye-shades and numerous other articles. Among the articles frequently made dangerous by this or other poisons may be named also ladies’ dress goods, veils, sewmg-silks. threads, stockings, gentlemen’s underclothing, socks, gloves, bat-linings, linings of boots and shoes, paper collars, babies’ carriages, colored enameled cloths, children’s toys, various fabrics of wool, silk, cotton, and leather in various colors. Arsenic has been found also in toilet powders and candles. Fros. Nichols, of our Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found oight grains of arsenic in each square foot of a dross. Another chemist found ten grains of arsenic in a single artificial flower. A child in Troy, N. Y., some time since, died in convulsions by taking the arsenic from a veil thrown over its crib to keep off the flies. A case has been recently brought to my knowledge of a Boston gentleman so severely poisoned by wearing poisonous underclothing that for several days he could hardly see. Possibly the largest use of arsenic is in the preparation of our wall-papers. The Massachusetts Stato Board of Health, in their report for 1872, gave twenty-five pages to this subject. These poisonous papers are of a great variety of colors—green, blue, red, yellow, pearl, and other colors. Some aro cheap, some costly, some figured, some plain, some glazed, some unglazed. There is but one way of surely detecting them, and that is by chemical analysis. It has been estimated that fully three-quarters of all our wall-papers now manufactured contain arsenic. The Michigan Stato Board ot Health has rocently published a book containing seventy-five specimens of these papers, and, by order of that board, it has been put into every important public library of Michigan, as a warning to the people of that State. It bears the very appropriate title of “Shadows from the Walls of Death.” This book states that these papers are sold in every city and important village of tnat State, and their use is increasing. It advises (l) the use of no wall-pa-per at all ; (2) never to use wall-paper without first Laving it tested for arsenic; and (3), if arsenical paper is already on the walls, and can not well he removed, then (as some protection) to cover it with a coat of varnish. There can be no doubt that thousands of people in this country are now suffering, and many have died, from the effects of arsenical wall-papers. Yet their manufacture and sale are_ permitted to go on without restriction. “ When I was in Germany,” said an eminent Boston chemist to me, “ I discovered arsenic in two specimens of wall-paper, and the manufacturer was in jail before night. Here I have analyzed hundreds of specimens in a single year and found arsenic in a large proportion of them, but nobody was prosecuted.” As a remedy for this wholesale poisoning, Mr. Angell recommends the organization in every city and village of a protective health association, whose duty it shall be to test and analyze all articles of diet offered for sale, publicly commending the good and condemning the bad. He thinks that Whenever such an association gets fairly at work in any city or town, it will become almost impossible to sell adulterated and poisonous articles without detection. 80 far as that city or town is concerned the demand will cease, and dealers will require of those from whom they buy guarantees that goods are pure and harmless. The purchaser who finds he has a poisonous or adulterated article will return it to the retail dealer, the retail dealer will send it back to the wholesale dealer, and the wholesale dealer to the man who manufactured or adulterated it, and demand not only his money, but full damages. And the guilty party will be glad to pay and stop the manufacture or adulteration. In cities, chemical and microscopical bureaus may be organized under the direction of eminent chemists and microscopists, in which one will analyze a certain class of articles, another another class, and so on; young chemists taking charge of those easily analyzed. When these things come about, poisonous articles of food and clothing, ana poisonous wall-papers and cooking utensils, will vanisM from our markets. m