Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1909 — AVER BENZOATE IS A HEALTH AID [ARTICLE]

AVER BENZOATE IS A HEALTH AID

Lawyers Declare Clients Are Losing $12,0(19 Yearly. SAY ACID KILLS POISON Fresh Suits Filed In Fight of Foodstuffs Manufacturers to Keep Board of Health From Preventing Sale of Gocds In Which Preservative is Used —Declare That Benzoate Is Never Used to Conceal What Is Put Into Packages. Indianapolis, April 20.—Declaring that the movement against the use of benzoate of soda in food products sold in Indiaua is only a preliminary step in u crusade designed ultimately to prevent the use of vinegars and spices in such products, four food-product concerns outside the state have brought suit in the Marlon county circuit court against the state board of health asking for a temporary restraining order, to be followed by a permanent injunction, to prevent the board from enforcing the rule against the preservative in food products sold and delivered in the state. The complainants are represented by Attorneys E. O. Grosvenor, Martin Hugg and Willis Baldwin, who represent two firms that brought suit previously. Collectively they say their profits in Indiana are lessened $12,000 annually by the enforcement of the rule against benzoate of soda. In their complaint, the plaintiffs admit that benzoate of soda is an antiferment and an antiseptic, and aver that it is odorless, tasteless and colorless, and that it can not be used to conceal inferiority in the materials used In the fruit preserving process. A contention which has struck the state board as entirely new Is made by the complainants, who aver that ptomaines are ordinarily found in large quantities in food products; that such ptomaines are odorless and tasteless, and are harmful, and that benzoate of soda is useful and beneficial in that it acts as an agent to prevent ptomaine poisoning.