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/415

 extensively used together with the artificial flavors resembling the fruits, the names of which appear erroneously upon the packages. Glucose is used to a large extent in these adulterated goods. In the adulterated articles a preservative is nearly always present. Starch is used but very rarely for adulterating articles of this kind.

Fifty-eight samples of jams which proved to be adulterated were bought on the open market by the Bureau of Chemistry, none of which bore any label or description indicating that it was an adulterated article. The character of the principal adulterant (glucose) in each case is revealed at once by the polarization, which is always strongly right-handed, and also by other chemical tests for glucose. The quantity of sulfate and chlorid in the ash of these samples is always very considerably increased over that of the natural product. The quantity of glucose in some of the samples is so great as to indicate that practically the whole of the solid matter is composed of this substance. In two samples the alleged jam contained no fruit product whatever. In many cases more than 70 percent of glucose is found and in one instance as high as 76 percent. In a great majority of the cases the glucose is approximately one-half of the whole weight of the jam. In a great many cases the glucose was present in quantities which indicated the utilization of some fruit product. There were a few cases where the amount of glucose fell below 10 percent. Artificial coloring matter was present in almost every case, and in the great majority of cases either benzoic acid or salicylic acid is present as a preservative. The colors used are coal tar dyes and cochineal.

It is evident that articles of food adulterated in this manner should not be permitted to bear the name of the natural product, and in many of the states the local laws forbid the use of a misleading name. The national law, which was approved on the 30th of June, 1906, also forbids misbranding of this description.

In addition to the jams which on their labels bore no indication of the adulterations, a number of samples of jam were purchased labeled "Compound," or in some way indicating that they were not the pure article. Thirteen samples of this kind were examined in the Bureau of Chemistry and all of them had very large quantities of glucose, the largest amount present in any one case being 37 percent. They were all artificially colored, and ten of them contained preservatives, either benzoic or salicylic acid.

Jellies.—In addition to the jellies which were made in the laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry for the purpose of controlling the manufacture, 44 samples of jelly were bought upon the open market. Of these commercial samples 19 contained no glucose, 13 of them contained glucose, but were not so labeled, and 12 were labeled as compound or adulterated articles. Nearly all of the commercial jellies were made with apple jelly as the base. The apple jelly and glucose made up practically the total solids, no matter what