58 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE ART OF BLEACHING AND DYEING AS APPLIED 



TO FOOD 



By Peofessor E. H. S. BAILEY 



UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 



AT last the time seems to have come when the public will have to 

 choose between those food products which from their beauty of 

 coloring or their superior whiteness appeal to the eye, although they 

 may be of doubtful wholesomeness, and those foods which are in their 

 natural state, and have not been " processed " to make them appear 

 better or more desirable than they really are. 



That we are becoming rapidly educated in matters that pertain to 

 pure food there is no doubt, therefore those who are nearest the sources 

 of information and who have the opportunity to study the action of 

 foods upon the system may direct public opinion in the right channels. 

 Thinking people always " want to know," even if they are not always 

 quick to overcome prejudice and do what their judgment indicates is 

 the best. 



While we should be the last to attempt to retard the development of 

 taste for the beautiful in coloring as well as in form, it is time to 

 consider seriously what is to be the outcome of " carrying out the color 

 scheme," in the parlance of the society reporter, in the domain of foods 

 whose function is to nourish the human body. 



For the past two or three years there has been a protest, in the 

 more progressive journals devoted to hygiene and pure foods, against 

 the bleaching of foods and the addition of color. This coloring has 

 too often been practised to give the food a better appearance, and we 

 regret to say, to simulate an article of better quality. We are now 

 at a point where the people will have an opportunity to show by their 

 support of existing legislation whether they are ready to take advanced 

 ground against bleached and artificially colored foods. 



While for hundreds of years bread made from a good quality of 

 wheat was considered good enough, within the past few years a demand 

 has arisen for white bread. If this notion is analyzed it will probably 

 appear that it goes back to the time when a cheaper bread was made 

 from rye flour or from badly milled wheat flour. Perhaps one reason 

 for the dislike for a dark flour was that its use would indicate that the 

 housewife could not afford a higher grade of flour. No doubt the 

 beauty of the white loaf, with its rich brown crust and fine even tex- 



