What we eat: an account of the most common adulterations of food and drink. With simple tests by which many of them may be detected

Front matter

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Chapter I. • Paqb

Preliminakt Remakes. — Frauds m Flouk and Bread 1

CHAPTER n.

Tea. — Its Introduction into Europe and America. — Cultivation and Preparation. — Adulterations . . 2-t

CHAPTER m.

Coffee. — Its Histort, Cultivation, Properties, Adulteration?. — Cocoa, and its Adulterations 53

CHAPTER rv.

Adulterations of Butter, Lard, Honet, Sugar, Pepper, Spices, Mustard, and Cayenne . . 79

CHAPTER V.

ELES, Preserved Fruits, Meats, and Fish. " A«-

va irepi tpaxljc." 94,,

CHAPTER VI.

Adulteration and Fabrication of Wines and Liquors. — Strychnine in Beer and Whiseey . 122 vm CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE VII.

PAGE

Milk. — Its Physiology. — Its Chemistry. — Its Natural Depravations. — Its Artificial Adulterations AND Contaminations. — Tests of Pure Milk. — Lactometer and Galactometer . . 153

CHAPTER vm.

Remedies for Adulteration. — Concluding Remarks .... 201

WHAT WE EAT.

CHAPTER I.

PRBLIMINAET REMARKS. — FRAUDS IN FLOUR AND BREAD.

It is generally but vaguely believed, that frauds are constantly and systematically practised among us, by the sophistication of nearly every article of diet ; and that not a few of those engaged in these nefarious practices, in the recklessness of an unhallowed lust for gain, do not scruple to make use of the most deleterious and even poisonous substances for such purposes.

It is a mournful fact that this public uneasiness upon so vital a matter should be well-founded, but it is a fact ; and in this and succeeding chapters it is designed to give it the point and force of a demonstrated certainty ; that the public mind may be aroused to the full enormity of such acts, and to the necessity of an effectual remedy. To this end numerous samples of all the substances which are 1 in most common use as articles of food, have been carefully and repeatedly examined and tested, by means of the appliances known to science, and the results which will be laid before the reader, cannot fail to produce conviction.

Many of the tests are such, that the statements which will be made can be verified by every one, with but little trouble ; others are somewhat recondite and complicated, and require the aid of a more or less extensive apparatus, and a certain amount of experience , and skill ; but in every case, so far as practicable, the processes will be explained, and simplified to as great an extent as is consistent with that accuracy which is essential to trustworthy results.

Modern science has been furnished, in investigations of this character, with a most powerful auxiliary in the microscope, the wonderful power of which, in the discrimination of minute organic forms, reaches into a field where, before, the greatest powers of the chemist's armory of tests and reagents afibrded but a feeble and uncertain guide.

It was for a long time the fashion, even among men of acknowledged attainments in science, to depreciate the microscope, as an aid to chemistry, and to characterize its teachings as valueless and deceptive. Doubtless this opinion, in the infancy of the instrument, had some slight foundation to rest upon ; but the labors of such men as Ehrenberg, Edwards, Schlieden, Nachet, Ross, Lister, Quekett, Carpenter, Spencer, and many others, who have devoted their time and talents to the improvement of the instrument, and to a careful study of all the sources of error either from optical or mechanical causes, make all such reflections obsolete and absurd; and the microscope takes its place unquestioned, as indispensable in every chemical investigation. By its aid, not only are the primitive organic forms, so delicate and so easily changed and destroyed by any of the ordinary appliances of chemistry, pointed out and recognized under almost every circumstance, without the possibility of error ; but minute portions of metals, minerals, and salts, so infinitesimal as to be quite beyond the touch of any test that can be applied, under the naked eye, are unerringly designated, either by the forms of their microscopic yet still characteristic crystals, or by definitive changes, under equally minute quantities of the proper reagents, that would be otherwise totally inappreciable.

■ For the systematic application of the microscope to the detection of adulterations of food, we are unquestionably indebted to Dr. Arthur Hill Hassall of London. It is interesting and instructive to note how completely ignorant of its powers for this purpose, until instructed by him, were men of even scientific distinction; and still more those ofiicials whose duty it was, in the service of the English revenue, to ferret out many of the frauds of this nature, which were yet constantly, and with entire impunity, practised under their very eyes. As an instance, in 1850 the chancellor of the British Exchequer stated in the House of Commons, that, neither by chemistry, nor by any other means, was the adulteration of coffee with chicory to be detected. This statement (I quote Dr. Hassall) was made on ihe strength of a report, procured at the instance of the Excise, from three of the most distinguished chemists of the day ; the real fact at the same time being, that nothing is more easy or certain than the discovery of the adulteration in question, by means of the microscope.

By uniting then, the now unquestioned powers of this instrument, with the other well-known resources of chemistry, but few of the numerous frauds practised by dealers in food can escape recognition.

I do not propose to make, in this manual, nor should the public in their dealings make, any compromises with those who are engaged in this business of depreciating and defiling our daily food. It is sometimes said, that if they would not poison us, we could put up with being cheated. But they have no more right to cheat us than they have to poison. When we buy and pay for an article, we have a right to that article in its purity, and not adulterated with ten, twenty, or fifty per cent, of another inferior or entirely worthless substance. The excuse is often made, that the public demanji goods so cheap in price that it is impossible to furnish them of the proper quality. But this is not so. Let it be fuUy understood that when a purchaser buys an article at eight cents a pound which cannot be honestly sold at less than ten cents, he is really getting no more, and generally less for his money at the last than first price, the balance being made up of something useless at best, if not positively injurious, and there is no man in his senses who would not take the genuine article.

This practice of adulteration originates with dishonest men, who take this means to undersell their more honest neighbors in the same business ; and it is as much for the interest of dealers who prize integrity and fair dealing, to lend their aid to the suppression of such fi:auds, as it is for the interest of the public at large. Doubtless many men whose souls revolt at such acts, yet feel themselves compelled by the pressure of this dishonest competition to resort to a similar course. These men should hail with joy every effort to enforce and reinforce the laws which must be their as well as our best protection ; and as in this country public officials require the support of public sentimtot before they can act effectually, they should join us in our attempts to arouse and direct that sentiment aright.

When we come to examine the list of adulterated articles of food, we are surprised at its extent. Nothing seems to have escaped which is not in its nature insusceptible of vitiation. Bread and butter, tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, milk, spices, confectionary, preserved fruits and meats, vinegar, pickles, oils, wines, and liquors, almost every article which we find upon our tables — bear upon them the trail of the serpent, in the form of such delectable substances as salts of copper and arsenic, the chromate, oxide, acetate and carbonate of lead, bi-sulphuret of mercury, gamboge, chromate of potash, Prussian blue, Bnmswick green, catechu, alum, indigo, sulphuric acid, Venetian r^d, yellow ochre, bronze powders ; to say nothing of less injurious, though not less dishonest, additions, of plaster of Paris, chalk, starch, burnt peas, beans, rye and chicory, water, turmeric, lard, meal, potatoes, etc. All of these articles, and not a few others of the same kind, shall be demonstrated to exist in the food consumed daily by the people of this country. The more poisonous substances are usually found in minute, though by no means homoeopathic quantities, but this makes them only the more deadly, because it admits of their constant and undetected use, until the constitutions of the victims are fatally undermined. Sometimes, however, immediately serious and even fatal results occur, and we not uncommonly see accounts of the death of children, especieilly from the use of colored confectionary. How many attacks of " colic," " vomiting," " dysentery," " sick headache," how much " nervousness," " blindness," " deafness," " dyspepsia," or even paralysis and insanity, might be traced by rigorous investigation to such sources it is frightful to think of. i

Dr. Hassall, in his most admirable work on Adulterations Detected in Food and Medicine, makes the following remarks upon this point: —

" Now with evidence such as the above, it is impossible to contend that the use of such a variety of injurious, and even poisonous, substances is unattended with danger, and that adulteration does not affect the public health. It may so happen, and it doubtless does sometimes occur, that the same person, in the course of a single day, receives into his stomach some eight or ten of the articles above enumerated. Thus with the potted meats and fish, anchovies, red sauces, or cayenne, taken at breakfast, he would consume more or less bole Armenian, Venetian red, red lead, or even bi-sulphuret of mercury. At dinner with his curry or cayenne, he would run the chances of a second dose of lead or mercury ; with the pickles, bottled fruit, and vegetables, he would be nearly sure to have copper administered to him ; while if he partook of bon bans at dessert, there is no telling what number of poisonous pigments he might consume. Again, in his tea, of mixed or green, he would certainly not escape without the administration of a little Prussian blue, and, it might be, worse things ; if he were a snufFtaker, he would be pretty sure to be putting up his nostrils, from time to time, small quantities of either some ferruginous earth, bi-chromate of potash, chromate of lead, or red lead ; finally, if he indulged himself with a glass or so of grog before going to bed, he would incur the risk of having the coats of his stomach burned and irritated with tincture of capsicum, or essence of cayenne." K he gets nothing worse than cayenne in his grog, in this country, he is lucky indeed.

Foreign substances are mixed with food for two purposes, both of which have, almost solely, fraud as their object. The first aim is to increase the bulk and weight of the article sold. To eflect this, some worthless or very inferior substance is used, without regard to any thing except its cheapne^ and the possibility of admixture without detection. Often^ as in the -case of the adulteration of cofFee With chicory and other roots, or with various gfadns and leguminous seeds, this is sufficient for the purposes of the operators ; but more commonly the first fraud, by altering more or less the sensible qualities of the article, necessitates a second, namely, the employment of coloring, flavoring, and scenting substances. These may be used either to give a better appearance to articles which are of an inferior quality, or which have been damaged ; or a greatly adulterated and even an almost entirely factitious article may be so colored and manipulated as to completely deceive the eyes and other senses of the purchaser. Cocoa, mustard, and spices, may be mentioned as liable to be thus, almost completely, itiwrmfactwred articles.

The following table wiU show most of these articles classified as I have found them. Comparison with similar tables in Dr. HassaU's works, will show that while frauds in this country run nearly parallel with those in England, yet different substances are very often used here, doubtless because more available and cheaper. In the first column are the names of articles adulterated, in the others the adulterants under each head. It wiU be noticed that it is chiefly under the second head (substances added for coloring, scenting, etc.), that the most actively deleterious articles are to be found ; thus adding another confirmation to the proverb, " II vSy a que le premier pas qui coMe ; " — haAdng learned cheating, they find it but a short step from thence to poisoning.

WHAT WE EAT.

Arrow-root,

Brandy (often entirely factitious),

Butter, Bread,

Bottled fruits.

Confectionary,

Coffee,

Cocoa and chocolate,

Cider (often entirely factitious),

Cayenne,

Ginger, Gin,

Honey (often entirely factitious).

Lard, Mustard,

MUk,

FOR BULK AND WEIGHT.

Cheaper arrow-roots and starches.

Water ; neutral spirits ; whiskey ; rum.

Water; lard; salt.

Corn-meal ; potatoes ; rye-meal.

Starch; flour; plaster of Paris.

Chicory; carrot; peas;

beans ; com.

Arrow-root ; staiyh ;

sugar.

Water.

Com meal ; salt.

Com meal. ^-- Water ; su^r ; neutral spirits.

Sugar; water; glucose.

Water.

Wheat flour ; com flour; salt; cayenne, Water.

FOR OOLOB, TASTE, ETC.

Burnt sugar; sugar; spirits of nitre ; fusil oil ; kino and other astringents ; acetic acid.

Alum.

Salts of copper.

Cochineal ; indigo ; Prussian blue ; ultra-marine ; carbonates of copper and lead; red lead, and the chromate of lead, or chrome yellow ; gamboge ; trae and false Brunswick greens (either oxychloride of copper, or a mixture of clirome yellow with Prussian blue or indigo) ; emerald green or arsenite of copper; various ochres (umber, sienna, etc.) ; bronze powders.

Burnt sugar.

Eed and brown ferruginous earths.

Honey ; sugar ; tartaric acid ; whiskey ; alum ; biimt sugar.

Eed lead ; Venetian red.

Turmeric.

Flavoring substances.

Salt.

Turmeric.

Burnt sugar ; salt ; bi-carb. soda.

WHAT WE EAT.

Pickles,

FOR OOLOB, TASTE, £T0.

Salts of copper.

Potted meats and

Bole Armenian; Ven.

fish, red.

Rum,

Waier.

Burnt sugar and flavoring substances.

Sugar (refined),

Wheat flour.

Spices,

Flour ; dirt ; corn-meal ; inferior or cheaper spices.

Tea,

Lie tea ; stalks ; and

Black lead ; gum ;

leaves of other plants.

Prussian blue ; gypsum ; indigo.

Vinegar,

Water.

Burnt sugar; sulphuric acid.

Whiskey,

Water; neutral spirits.

Spts. nitre ; fusil oil ;

• burnt sugar; acetic acid.

The articles upon the analysis of which the above table is based, were chiefly purchased in the shops of this city (Boston) ; but there are the best reasons for believing that the same frauds are practised throughout the country, and in some places even to a greater extent than here.

Having thus briefly stated what it is my intention to demonstrate, and by what means, let us now proceed to a more detailed consideration of one of the chief articles on the list.

Wheaten bread is', in our favored country, an article of universal consumption; at least among the white population.* In the cities and large towns.

* The singular propensity which the negro race seem to have for fats, and which leads them to riot in fat bacon, and regard as a choice tit-bit the still fatter " 'possum," appears to lead them the greater portion of the bread which is consumed, is prepared by the bakers. Before commencing our examination of their work, however, it will no doubt be interesting to most of my readers, to learn a little of the rationale of the process of bread-making.

The composition of fine flour is quite simple. It contains about ten per cent, of a white, sticky substance, which is called, by the chemists, gluten. It is this which causes the particles of flour, when wetted, to cohere, and form the elastic mass called dough. K we place a 'portion of dough upon a sieve, and, under a stream of water, work it with the hand, the water will pass off' milky, and, if the process be continued long enough, will leave the gluten nearly pure upon the sieve. The water, if received into a proper vessel and allowed to settle, wiU deposit starch in the proportion to the whole weight of the dry flour used, of about seventy per cent. These two substances, then, gluten and starch, constitute eighty per cent., or four fifths of the whole mass of the flour. Of the remaining twenty per cent, about fifteen or sixteen is water, and the remainder consists of a small portion of oil, and some other matters of minor importance.

To make flour into bread it is necessary to add to

also, instinctively, to prefer the com cake to the white loaf, because of the greater per-centage of oil which exists in the grain of corn.

it about fifty per cent, of water ; that is, one hundred pounds of good flour will make one hundred and fifty pounds of bread. • But something else besides water is necessary to make the ordinary kinds of bread. This is something to cause the dough to "rise" — to make it spongy and light. For this purpose, in old times, yeast or leaven was used almost exclusively. These have the property of exciting fermentation in the dough, and one of the products of fermentation is carbonic acid gas, which, entangled in the mass of. dough, and held there by the tenacious gluten, expands, and puffs it up. It is then formed into loaves and baked. When it is taken from the oven after baking, if it is cut across, it is found full of small holes which were formed by the bubbles of gas.

Now-a-days, since chemistry has interfered, for good and for evil, in most of the affairs of life ; other, easier, cheaper, and quicker ways of raising bread have been devised, but aU of them are based on the same essential principle, the production of carbonic acid within the mass of dough. This is commonly effected, in private kitchens, by the use of an acid, and an alkaline carbonate ; the first being generally either tartaric acid, or one of its salts, the cream of tartar ; and the alkali being the bi-carbonate of soda. The baking powders, sold in the shops, are merely mixtures already prepared of these substances in their proper proportions, to which is usually added a quantity of starch, to increase the^ bulk, and also as a preservative.

It has always been urged as an objection to the use of these and similar substances, that the results of theix union remain in the bread, in the form of a salt of soda or potash, which must prove injurious to the health of those who consume it. The greater frequency of urinary affections which has been noticed to exist of late, has, with some show of reason, been attributed to these salts, which are almost entirely eliminated from the system through the kidneys. Although it is perhaps impossible to produce positive proof that they are thus, or otherwise injurious, it may at least be regarded as highly probable. Many substitutes have been proposed ; among others, one, in which phosphates are said to take the place of tartrates in the bread. It is claimed for this preparation, that it is not only harmless, but absolutely sanatory. The phosphates are generally held to be insoluble in the intestinal juices, and consequently inert ; but if it be true that the product of the reaction between this " substitute " and an alkali is soluble, and may be absorbed, it appears rather to be an argument against, than in favor of its adaptability for -the purpose proposed. While in some forms of disease, the administration of phos^- phatic medicines might be desirable, it would appear preferable that they should be given in a manner more under the control of the physician who prescribes them; — in healthy individuals, the habitual use of any medicinal substance, however apparently harmless, is not a practice ,to be commended. Cream of tartar and tartaric acid are extensively adulterated — generally with starch or sulphate of lime, the adulteration often exceeding twenty per cent.

Theoretically, the best plan appears to be the one proposed by Liebig, wherein he substitutes the hydro-chloric or muriatic acid for the tartaric. His formula is as follows : —

Wheat flour 7 lbs.

Carb. soda 350 to 500 grains.

"Water 2 3-4 pints.

Hydro-chloric acid . . . 420 to 560 grains.

The soda and flour are first intimately mingled, and then made into a dough, with the mixture of acid and water, which may be baked immediately. The results of the chemical reaction are simply chloride of sodium (common salt), and the carbonic acid gas required to lighten the dough. For bakers this is probably an available, as it is an excellent plan ; but in families the use of a powerful corrosive acid in the hands of servants, and liable to fall into those of children, is a great and positive evil in the place of a lesser and somewhat hypothetical one. It seems on the whole, then, that the best of all plans is to return to the old, though somewhat uncertain and troublesome, method of employing yeast, which certainly, when skilfully used, gives us a bread at which no one can justly cavU.

Wheat is an unlucky grain. If it escape the frost, the army-worm, the rust, the smut, the fiy, and the weevil, and arrive at maturity unscathed, it may yet be spoiled in the field by unseasonable rains, which cause it to germinate. Sprouted or " grown " wheat, is a variety well known to the millers. It makes an inferior flour, inasmuch as the process of sprouting induces, in proportion to its progress, a change in the gluten of the grain, which measurably destroys its tenacity, — that property by which the carbonic acid gas is arrested and retained in the dough, giving lightness and sponginess to the bread.

Three processes are known, or rather three sub-? stances, which have the power of restoring to the gluten of grown wheat some of its original properties. These substances are sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), alum, and lime water; the latter suggested by Liebig. Of these, either because of its cheapness, its availability, or perhaps its more certain and imiform action, alum seems to have the preference with the bakers. From eight to sixteen ounces to each barrel of flour is the usual allowance. This is the result of a careful analysis of bread bought in diiferent parts of this city ; not a loaf was found free from that stringent mineral, which cannot fail to disorder the stomach, producing dyspepsia, headache,, constipation, and irritation of the bowels. These uniform results, from the tests applied to numerous samples, go strongly to contradict thfe assertion, made by several anonymous writers in the newspapers (who, evidently in the interest of the bakers and flour-dealers, attacked my statements upon this point, in the papers which I contributed to the columns of the Boston Courier), that a large,' if not the major part of the best flour brought to market, is used by the bakers; unless, indeed, for the sake of whiteness alone, or for some unknown purpose, they mix alum not only with poor but with good flour.

Every one notices the diflerence in smell, taste, and color, between baker's and home-made bread. It is generally destitute, in a great degree, of the sweet nutritious taste and the agreeable smeU which belong to pure bread. It is whiter and lighter — both due to the use of alum — but its taste is dry and insipid, and it is extremely apt, in delicate persons, to produce heart-burn, or acidity of the stomach. Now there is no reason whatever why the bread of the baker should difler from household bread, except in being superior to it ; for the skill, experience, and uniformity of his processes ought to secure a better result than is always practicable in the family kitchen. How wofully the other way the case is, is known to all. Yet in Paris, where these things are regulated by the vigilant arm of the law, aided by science, the baker's bread is eminently good ; — Ught, sweet, and digestible ; such as it must be when made of a proper quality of flour, which requires no drugging to make a good-looking bread. Baker's bread has very frequently a large admixture of corn or rye meal, and, occasionally, potatoes. These are not objectionable additions, provided the purchaser is allowed to benefit by the reduction of cost ; but this is rarely the base. In my analyses, 1 find as an almost universal rule, that the dearest bread as to weight, is also made of the poorest flour, and contains more alum and more meal. If the more honest bakers, who sell a nineteen ounce loaf of tolerably good bread for five cents, make a fair profit, as they undoubtedly do, what must be the gain, of him who sells a fourteen oimce loaf, made of poorer flour, mixed with fifteen per cent, of meal, for the same money ? And these are generally the class of bakers most patronized by the poor ; who are least able to bear such imposition, and, having no facilities for baking,, must depend entirely upon the baker for a supply. A difference of over thirty per cent, upon an article of prime necessity, like bread, is a serious tax upon a laboring man. It may be said that he is not compelled to buy at such places ; but it is enough for us to know that through ignorance or carelessness he does so, and that a proper enforcement of the laws already existing would afford him ample protection. It will not do for us, in this or any case where the poor and ignorant become the prey of knaves, to make to our consciences Cain's answer, " Am I my brother's keeper ? "

The following is the law relating to the sale of bread in this State, and every, citizen will see at a glance that none of its provisions are complied with or enforced.

Sec. 5. A loaf of bread for sale shall be two pounds in weight. Bread, except that composed in chief part of rye or maize, shall be sold in loaves, half, three-quarter, and quarter loaves, but not otherwise.

Sec. 6. In every shop or place where bread is sold by retail, and in each front window thereof, there shall be conspicuously placed a card, on which shall be legibly printed a list of the dif- ^rent kinds and qualities of loaves sold there, with the price of each by the loaf, half, three-quarter, and quarter loaf.

Sec 7. Bread sold in any shop or place shall be weighed in presence of the buyer, and if found deficient in weight, bread shall be added to make up the legal weight.

Sec. 8. Whoever violates either of the provisions of the three preceding sections, shall forfeit ten dollars for each ofifence, to be recovered in an action of tort to the use of the party suing therefor.

Sec. 9. The four preceding sections shall not apply to rolls or fancy bread weighing less than one-quarter of a pound.

This law, if the police were instructed to enforce it, would be a complete protection against frauds in weight. The addition of a city ordinance, requiring that every loaf should be legibly stamped with its weight, might facilitate the operation of the law. This is done in the city of Edinburgh, and is found to work admirably, as is shown in the following letter to the editor of the London Lancet : —

Sir, — In your admirable exposures of the nefarious practices of bakers in their trade, I observe you do not limit your investigations to adulterations, but show up the equally dishonest system they foUow of mulcting the public in the understood weight of their bread. The act of Parliament professing to check this laf^ ter fraud, in practice is a dead letter, as it places the onus of checking the baker on the purchaser, and imposes a trouble which in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the public will not take.

I write this to acquaint you with a plan which, is in every way a most effectual check to dishonesty in the weight of bread; and aa it has been enforced for about three years in this city by laff, its practical efficiency for the purpose has been fully established.

The plan is simply to make it imperative on the bakers to stamp the weight upon all the loaves he makes. The provision to this effect in the police act of Edinburgh is twofold. It enacts, 1st. That every loaf of bread shall have impressed upon its upper surface the imperial weight in legible figures and letters; 2d. That the vendor of any loaf not so stamped, shaU, if stamped with a

{fiihe or unjust denomination of weight, be liable to a penalty of, I think, £5, and if unstamped he shall be liable to a like penalty, and the forfeiture of the bread. Fancy bread is exempt from this law.

I am happy to say, as the originator of this provision, that it has worked most satisfactorily, both for the .fair dealer and the public, since it came into operation in Edinburgh. While it makes the baker or vendor of bread responsible for the weight of his loaves, it imposes no extra trouble or other restriction on him in his business. It merely makes him do what every other tradesman does — that is, vend his commodity by weight and not by lump, as is virtually the way everywhere except in Edinburgh.