Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — HORSE MEAT WAR IN PARIS. [ARTICLE]

HORSE MEAT WAR IN PARIS.

Amusing Complications from Using Flesh in Sausages. • An amusing warfare has been carried on in Paris between the Government chemists and the makers of sausages in which horseflesh has been used. Some time ago the Butchers’ Association of Paris strongly advocated a law rendering it compulsory to designate by a label or otherwise all sausages composed of horseflesh or In which horseflesh had been mixed with other meats. The authorities, while perfectly willing to make regulations enforcing this practice, declined to do so on account of the impossibility of punishing offenders. To punish the violators of a law it is necessary to detect the violation and also to show proof of it. In the present state of scientific knowledge It is not possible to satisfactorily determine the difference between flesh of the horse and that of any other animal when they are both chopped fine and mixed together. A chemist finally discovered that if the meat were treate with iodated water a reddish-brown reaction would be apparent if horseflesh were present Pork or beef does give this peculiar tinge. The pork butchers rejoiced and prepared to push the wished-for legislation. The horsemeat men had a card np their sleeves, however, and commenced adding a little flour to their sausage meat. When the lodated water was applied contact with the starch of the flour immediately produced a brilliant blue, which effectually masked all traces of any other color. This blue, of course, would point to the likelihood of horsemeat being present, but it could not be sworn to. Supposing the meat to be pure beef and the flour added, the blue would be the same when the test was applied. The chemists again went to work and discovered that if the starch was separated by maceration and subsequent filtration, and the residue treated with two or three chemicals, the horsemeat would be detected. So far the victory rests with the chemists, and the law will probably be passed unless the horsemeat men make another discovery. In 1892 20,000 horses were slaughtered In Paris,- three-fourths of which went into sausages, so that the importance of the industiy may be realized.