ADULTERATION OF OLEOMARGARINE.

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cooking purposes. All the ingredients which are used in the manufacture of oleomargarine are made known and recorded in the books of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and thus it is a product which it may be said is strictly under government supervision.

Description of Process of Manufacture.-The fat is taken from the cattle in the process of slaughtering, and after thorough washing is placed in a bath of clean, cold water, and surrounded with ice, where it is allowed to remain until all animal heat has been removed. It is then cut into small pieces by machinery and cooked at a temperature of about 150 degrees until the fat, in liquid form, has separated from the fibrine or tissue, then settled until it is perfectly clear. Then it is drawn into graining vats and allowed to stand a day, when it is ready for the presses. The pressing extracts the stearin, leaving the remaining product, which is commercially known as oleo oil, which, when churned with cream or milk or both and with or without a proportion of creamery butter, the whole being properly salted, gives the well-known food-product, oleomargarine.

Adulteration of Oleomargarine. Since the coloring of oleomargarine is permitted upon the payment of a tax, oleomargarine which is colored cannot be said to be adulterated when the tax has been paid, although if coloring were not a legalized operation it would be an adulteration. Yellow oleomargarine is an imitation of natural butter and its manufacture should be prohibited unless the product is marked "imitation." The character of the coloring materials used is not prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue but as a rule the coal tar dyes are preferred in the coloring of oleomargarine to the vegetable coloring matter such as annotto and saffron. The remarks which have been made in connection with the use of poisonous materials in other products apply to oleomargarine.

Adulteration with Egg Yolks.-An adulteration which has been practiced in this country is the admixture of preserved egg yolks. Usually these yolks are secured in China, broken, and placed in vessels and preserved with borax or boric acid or salt. These eggs are generally collected during the early spring and summer months and are not sent to the United States until the fall or winter. The importation of such articles is now prohibited under the food laws of the country so that the adulterations with the imported article is no longer to be feared. It is possible to preserve domestic eggs in the same way, and the use of them in this manner is regarded as an adulteration, since such preserved egg products cannot be regarded as suitable for human food.

Adulteration with Preservatives.-Fortunately preservatives are not used to any extent in the manufacture of oleomargarine when intended for domestic use. The most suitable preservative in such a case as this would be borax or boric acid. It is not believed that these preservatives are used to any extent

when the product is intended for domestic consumption. Whether or not preservatives are used in the product sent abroad I am unable to say.

Production of Oleomargarine.-According to the report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue the quantity of oleomargarine taxed at 10 cents a pound produced in the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, was 5,584,684 pounds, and for 1906, 4,888,968 pounds. The quantity produced in 1906 taxed at one-fourth cent a pound was 50,545,914 pounds.

From the above data it is seen that the objections to the use of oleomargarine are more on the grounds of fraud and deception than in regard to nutritive and dietetic value. The components used in the manufacture of oleomargarine, when properly made, are all wholesome and digestible materials such as are consumed in eating various food products. It does not appear, therefore, that any valid objection can be made against the use of oleomargarine from from a physiological or hygienic standpoint.

CHEESE.

Historical. The preparation of cheese is one of the oldest of the technical processes. It appears that it was known during the time of King David, at least a thousand years before Christ, and the Greeks were acquainted with it before the writings of Homer. Aristotoles and Hypocrates describe the curdling of milk which at that time appears to have been accomplished by the use of the juice of the fig. The use of cheese was very common in Rome in the earlier historical days but the most of it was imported from the North. Cæsar speaks of the preparation of cheese among the German tribes. Cheese must, therefore, be regarded as one of the very oldest forms of prepared food used by man. It probably is almost, if not quite, as old as wine. These historical facts are interesting in showing how from the earliest times man has made use of the natural ferments to prepare food from the raw material. Attention must be called in this connection to the fact that many people claim that such foods as these are not natural foods but wholly artificial. The fallacy of such a claim is not difficult to show. An artificial food is one which is prepared out of materials which, themselves, are not edible food products or, at least, are not digestible or of a character which does not naturally occur by ordinary processes. Artificial foods, therefore, are purely synthetic,

that is, made up from the elemental substances, or they are mixtures or compounds. On the contrary a food like cheese or wine is not a mixture or compound but a natural product from materials which themselves are food products. Milk is the raw material of cheese as the must of the grape is of wine. Both milk and must are rich and nutritious foods. The changes which each undergoes are in many respects the same. The must of wine undergoes an alcoholic fermentation and the milk sugar of cheese is subjected to a lactic fermentation and its casein to a proteolytic change which materially alters its character.

Cheese products are a very important part of food materials of the dairy. The term cheese is applied to the solid product produced from milk by coagulation of the casein with rennet or lactic acid and subjecting the solid product thus produced to a process of fermentation and ripening by the addition of appropriate seed material, seasoning, and storage at convenient temperature for varying periods of time. In the precipitation of the casein of milk the fat particles become mechanically entangled and form a part of the precipitate. There is a certain quantity of other milk constituents incorporated in the form of water, milk sugar, and mineral matter in the precipitated mass. The greater part of the other bodies which the milk contains, consisting of the milk sugar and a considerable portion of the soluble mineral matter, are separated in the form of whey. The composition of fresh cheese is that of that part of the milk which is precipitated and which is entangled mechanically in the precipitated matter. The ripened cheese is changed in its chemical constituents mostly as the result of fermentative action upon its nitrogenous constituents, that is, the casein, albumin, etc., contained therein. The ferments. tend to change the casein into a more soluble form of protein, while at the same time they develop a flavor and aroma in a way agreeable to the nostril and palate. Various forms of moulds and other organisms grow on and in cheeses which influence their palatability and character. The final product of the ripened cheese varies not only with the nature of the original material as determined by the milk itself but with the character of the preparation and the nature of the organisms and ferments which are active during the ripening period, and also with the time and temperature of storage.

Kinds of Cheese.-It is not necessary and perhaps it would be impossible to attempt an enumeration of all the various kinds of cheese which are offered on the market. The first classification of cheese depends upon the character of the milk used. The term "cheese" in this country naturally refers to a product made from cow's milk since that is the principal milk used in the United States for cheese making. The term is used in this manual in that sense and when there is no qualifying word employed it is always understood that the product in question is made from the cow's milk. This implies that the milk is at least a standard milk, that is, a whole milk, unskimmed and

containing not less than 3.25 percent of butter fat. According to the definition fixed by the Congress of the United States the term cheese is applied not only to this product but also to one containing a larger percentage of fat than this. The term cheese applies both to cheese made from milk and cheese made partially from milk and partially from cream. The term "full cream cheese" is also often used in the trade but is likely to be misleading and deceptive. The real significance of the term full cream cheese is that it is made of whole milk or milk unskimmed which contains its full complement of cream. The term "cream cheese" is also often used to indicate a cheese made partially of milk and cream. It is evident that the term cream cheese in this sense is misleading, since it can be properly applied only to a cheese made from cream alone. Such cheeses are made but, inasmuch as cream must have not less than 18 percent of fat in order to be called cream according to the United States standard, the cheeses made from such a source are too oily and fatty for ordinary consumption.

Cheese Made from Goat's Milk.- Goat's milk is also frequently used in making cheese. It is extensively employed in France and Switzerland for cheese making and also in other parts of Europe, and to a limited extent. in this country. Some of the varieties of cheese which are most highly prized are made from goat's milk, such as Roquefort.

Adulteration and Misbranding of Cheese. The most common form of adulteration or sophistication of cheese is the misbranding thereof in respect of the country where made or in respect of character. This is a form of deception which has long been established in the trade and one which cannot be condoned or excused. There are certain varieties of cheese whose names should be respected and in fact, in the case of all varieties that have an established character and reputation, their name should not be applied to other articles made in imitation thereof. In this country there is a national law which prohibits the marking of a food or dairy product falsely as to the state or territory where made. For instance, a cheese made in Ohio cannot be marked New York cheese and peaches grown in Delaware cannot be marked California peaches, maple sirup made in Indiana cannot be labeled Vermont maple sirup, etc. The ethical principle underlying this law is one which will meet the approbation of every well meaning man and therefore the extending of this principle to other forms of misbranding is an easy step. If it is a violation of the law to mark a cheese made in Ohio as made in New York it is certainly a violation of the ethical principle underlying that law to name a cheese made in Connecticut Cammerbert. Unhappily, however, there are cheeses made in the United States to which foreign names are given, the universal excuse being that they are cheeses of the same type. In many cases this excuse is not a valid one and in no case is it an accepted one. Το name a cheese made from cow's milk the same as that made from ewe's milk

is a distinct misbranding in every sense of the term. There should be no difficulty in established varieties of cheese made in this country having names which are not deceptive and not intended to mislead the consumer as to the state, territory, or country where made. In one sense all cheese may be said to be of the same type, but because the taste and odor of a cheese made in the United States imitates to some extent that of a cheese made in France is no excuse for giving the French name to the American product. A further illustration of this principle is found in the following: The term Roquefort, for instance, is not properly applied to any cheese product except that which is made at or in the vicinity of Roquefort. In no other part of France can cheese be made bearing the name of Roquefort. The use of the term Roquefort, therefore, in any way upon American cheese is a misbranding and an attempt to deceive which usually is successful. There is not so great an objection to the term Swiss cheese as to Roquefort, but there is the same kind of an objection. The cheese which bears the name of Schweitzer-Käse is very extensively manufactured in Germany and sold under that name. A similar cheese is also extensively made in this country and sold under the name of Schweitzer-Käse. In this case there is no particular location or place which originated the name and has the sole right to use the name Swiss cheese. It is the name of a whole country and not of a location, and yet it is evident that Swiss cheese properly can only be made in Switzerland and not in Germany or in the United States. Any hard, tough cheese in which a large number of holes is found and which on cutting makes a flexible, semi-leathery slice has to a certain extent the appearance and perhaps the taste and flavor of genuine Swiss cheese.

It should not be difficult to find a market for all good cheese made in this country, under appropriate American names indicating their origin. If the term Swiss cheese is at all allowable on a package it should be placed as a minor part of the label and with the statement that it is of that type. Even this transgression is perhaps difficult of excuse.

Artificial Coloring.-Next to misbranding and misnaming of cheeses, perhaps the most common adulteration is that of artificial coloring. The public taste has been led in the matter of cheeses, especially of American origin, to look for a deep yellow color. This is also associated with the idea of the use of a large quantity of rich, naturally yellow-colored cream. The addition of an artificial color to a cheese never adds anything to its value, and to the really æsthetic eye detracts much from its appearance. The presence of this rich artificial tint is calculated in many instances to excite a suspicion in regard to the character of the cheese and thus interferes with its proper gustation. There is another more serious objection than the one just mentioned, namely, that it is possible from skimmed milk to make a highly colored cheese which would appear to the consumer to be made of