Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/344

 perhaps somewhat more digestible, than in its aggregate and solidified condition. As a nutrient the green corn is not so valuable by any means as its equal weight when dry. The percentage of water in green corn is many times as great as in the dry variety. For mere nutritive purposes, therefore, it would not be worth while to go to the trouble of canning green Indian corn. Its value is that which is attached to a succulent fresh vegetable, that is, it is condimental and hygienic as well as nutritive.

The mean analysis of many samples of canned sweet Indian corn is given below:

Water,                75.50 percent Dry matter,           24.50 "

Oil and fat,           1.26 " Cellulose,               .79 " Ash,                    .93 " Salt,                    .23 " Protein,               3.51 " Sugar and starch,      17.58 "

These data were obtained on samples bought in the open market, some of which had been artificially sweetened and to some of which starch had probably been added. The analysis of the fresh green corn is given on page 227.

Adulteration of Canned Corn.—Unfortunately many adulterations have been practiced in connection with the canning of Indian corn which, while not extensive or applicable to the great mass of material, have cast an unjust suspicion on the unadulterated product. The trade in this canned product would be vastly increased if the consumer could be assured that all forms of adulteration had been eliminated from the industry. The principal adulterants used are mentioned on page 228, but the following additional statements are pertinent:

Adulteration with Starch.—In order to make a more creamy liquid in the can the addition of starch has been largely practiced. There are two objections to the addition of starch to canned corn. In the first place it unbalances the ration and makes it more or less unwholesome. Starch itself is an unbalanced food product, but Nature has so distributed the starches in various foods as to present them in the most favorable form for digestion and assimilation, and when this natural balance is disturbed by artificial means the result is more or less injurious to the organs of digestion. There are many persons to whom starchy foods are not nutritious nor easily digested, and when persons of this kind consume canned Indian corn to which starch has been added their health may be injured. The addition of starch, therefore, is reprehensible for hygienic reasons. In the second place it is objectionable because it is deceptive, since the canned product has a richer and better appearance to the eye by this addition than it otherwise would have, and because more water can be used in the can.