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Retiring President, of the Rocky Mountain Inter-State Medical Association.

will find that in numerous instances they have been treated before evaporation with a water-bath, by which the nourishing juices have been extracted from them. That is to say, these apples are pared, cored and cut into what the old German women call "snitz." These "snitz" are placed in water for a certain length of time, and the cider or juices and flavoring extracts allowed to escape into this water, which is drawn off, evaporated and used as a basis for apple jelly, while, what is left of the "snitz" are dried and sold on the market as evaporated fruit. In order to prevent them from turning brown and to give them a fresh appearance,, they are placed on racks, which in turn are placed in suitable receptacles and these same "snitz" subjecte:1 to the fumes of sulphur, thus "bleaching them out" so as to give them a handsome appearance. But when the good housewife buys and cooks them for her little family, she is unawares, buying a deception and a snare, for the reason that the larger part of the most important and nutritious substance of the apple has been taken away from it through this process of soaking in water, and her family which expected bread at her hands, in reality is receiving useless and un-nutritious husks.

This same process of deception is practiced on other fruits in a similar manner, until it is difficult to purchase dried fruits today that are pure and free from fraud, adulteration and deception of some kind.

This is not all, the same deception is practiced on many of our cheaper canned goods before they are cooked and canned, whilst the loss of juice is made up (to the eye only) by the addition of glucose and gelatin, which gives the canned fruit the appearance of having around it, a rich, thick juice, which the housewife is lead to believe is the natural juices of the fruit, but on the contrary, is indigestible material, which is liable to make her children sick when they eat it, often producing vomiting or diarrhea, or both, and not infrequently necessitating the attendance of a physician.

It is easy to see where the commercial value of impure foods cuts an important factor. In the first place, you are paying for what you believe is pure, healthy, ripe fruit that has been dried or cooked or canned, as the case may be, whilst in reality you are paying for a deception that is neither nutritious, digestible nor healthy.

Now let us see what has been done with the juices that have been stolen from the "snitz." This has been evaporated down, and is used as a basis for jellies, but on examination, these so-called jellies are found to contain large quantities of gelatin, which has been colored by artificial coloring material, such as

aniline dyes, and the like to give it the proper color and general appearance of jelly, and just enough of this fruit extract added to give it the taste of a real fruit jelly.

In some instances, this is even denied you, and not a particle of fruit extract of any kind or chacacter will be found in the jellies, which are found to be flavored by artificial essences, made in some instances from rancid butter, treated by ethers in such quantities and manner as to produce an artificial flavor and smell similar to that of pineapple, strawberry, apple, cherry or currant ; in fact almost any fruit flavor and smell you may mention, can be produced artificially in this way. From this, you can readily see that you have a most indigestible, un-nutritious, and not only valueless preparation, but an actual detriment to the human economy, and when once eaten, is little more than a foreign body in the intestinal track, and of necessity, must be eliminated as worse than useless.

Thus we might go on and enumerate similar deceptions and frauds that are practiced on nearly every kind of fruit in the market, but time forbids. Do not understand me, that all fruits prepared by all packing houses, are subjected to these deceptions and frauds, but bear in mind, the good and the bad are placed on the market together, and especially the inferior brands, to such an extent that it is necessary that something should be done to prohibit their sale, except under its real name, and with the full knowledge on the part of the purchaser that it is a deception and a fraud.

MEATS.

The day of getting good, old-fashioned country-cured ham and bacon, is practically a thing of the past, particularly in our large cities, and even our smaller towns. Instead of taking three months to cure meat, in the good, old-fashioned, wholesome way, the modern hog walks into the butcher shop in the morning. and in from two to three days is shipped as cured ham. The beautiful brown color that once was the result of smoking with hickory wood, is now procured in a few hours by log-wood or other dyes. The smoke flavor is produced by pyrolignic acid, and instead of the old-fashioned "sweet pickle," a composition of borax, boracic acid, sulphites, sulphurous, salicylic and benzoic acids are used as substitutes that hasten the curing process and serve to preserve the meat at the expense of its digestibility and healthfulness.

Oysters come to us labeled as fresh "New York Counts," which are steeped in formaldehyde and actually unfit to enter the human stomach. It is true, formaldehyde preserves them just the

same as it would preserve any other corpse, but it preserves them at the expense of their usefulness, and makes them not only unfit for food, but absolutely injurious.

Canned meats, which are so much used in this section of the country, should not be passed, without warning, you of their danger and the possibility of their containing a poisonous substance, known as ptomaines, which is a poisonous alkaloidal substance resulting from decay and consequent chemical changes taking place in the meat. This, as a rule, is not the result of meat being canned, but is the result of canning tainted or decayed meat instead of fresh, wholesome meat. This is a common method by which old shop-tainted meat is gotten rid of, saying nothing of old cows and other second and third class meat, which finds a ready sale when presented to the trade in this manner. It matters not how much it is cooked, it does not destroy these poisonous alkaloids, and when eaten, they produce intense gastro-intestinal irritation, which not unfrequently proves fatal.

Another method of disposing of this tainted meat is by manufacturing sausage from it, which is highly spiced to cover its tainted condition, placed in skins, which are dyed with log-wood the same as hams and bacon and put on the market with an inviting appearance, but when eaten are often a source of irritation to the digestive track, rather than one of nourishment.

I recall an instance some years ago, when the health officer of Mansfield, Ohio, discovered and prohibited the sale of a car load of tainted meat which had been quietly brought to that city and was being soid at two and three cents a pound to certain of our butchers and sausage manufacturers, thus saving a total loss on the one hand, at the expense of the people on the other.

These remarks apply in part at least to fish, poultry and meats of all kinds.

The "choice fricassee" of chicken served on the dining car, or at the fashionable hotels, are too frequently "shop worn" old hens or "spring chickens" that have served "overtime" in some cold storage house, and are disposed of by stewing and canning and serving to the hungry traveler at the fashionable resorts as the "real fresh thing," when in reality it has long since, not only lost much of its flavor, but may contain poisonous and sickening ptomaines.

We have not touched upon the important subject of the substitution of dog meat, as well as that of horses and mules, for beef or other meats, which have been carried on to such an extent that the German Empire has passed rigid laws preventing the sale of prepared meats in the Empire, which are based mainly on these causes. The question then arises, why should we not protect our

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