52 C. U. C. P. ALUMNI JOURNAL April, 1918 



found appreciable amounts of sand in both these materials. The recent sugar 

 shortage played havoc with candy manufacture and factories have had to use sugar 

 of almost any grade. In an effort to supply their trade, some manufacturers have 

 even used crude sugar which upon examination was found to contain 0.25%-o.50 

 per cent, of insoluble materials, chiefly sand. This sugar was used in the 

 same manner as higher grade sugars had formerly been used and the foreign 

 materials found their way into candies which are just about reaching the 

 consumer at this time and which are incidentally causing unnecessary alarm. 

 Flours and breadstuffs present another angle of the same situation. Recent 

 Food Administration regulations having the force of law compel bakers to sub- 

 stitute other cereals and starchy materials for high grade wheat flour in bread 

 making. These requirements have led to an increased use of whole wheat flours, 

 brans, middlings and low grade flours. Appreciable amounts of sand and grit 

 may be present in these substitutes. Being chiefly intended for use as cattle foods 

 it is not entirely essential that they be thoroilghly cleansed. With the possible 

 exception of the comparatively small amounts of flour produced by grinding the 

 grain in stone mills instead of modern steel roller mills, high grade flours 

 are generally free from sand and grit particles. In obeying flour regulations some 

 bakers have employed cattle foods of various kinds as wheat and rye sub- 

 stitutes. Pumpernickle and rye bread made from rye feed is a typical instance. 

 These cattle meals always contain sand and bread containing them will naturally 

 be gritty. In some corn meals recommended as wheat substitutes, membranous 

 tissues of the pericarp were present as hard shining fragments and after baking, 

 such materials became even more gritty. These particles might easily be mis- 

 taken for foreign matter. Formerly such chaffy particles were separated from 

 the meal, or if impossible of removal, the materials were used as cattle or poultry 

 foods. In normal times the presence of trifling amounts of sand or grit would 

 excite hardly more than passing notice ; now such materials cause alarm and 

 arouse suspicion of even high grade food materials. 



Isolation of Glass or Sand in Foodstuffs. 



The method employed in separating the foreign material from the foodstuff 

 necessarily depends upon the character of the latter and whether quantitative as 

 well as qualitative results are desired. In a laboratory where questions of 

 embargo or prosecution depend upon the report of an analyst, the element of 

 time is an important consideration and may cause one to employ methods which 

 give rapid results of fair accuracy rather than those of greater length but more 

 exact. For all determinations, qualitative as well as quantitative, large amounts 

 of the suspected substance must be used; for the amounts of foreign materials 

 present, rarely exceed 0.50% and may be infinitesimal. Another point to be 

 borne in mind is that practically every foodstuff will contain minute traces of 

 sand. Amounts too small for weighing on the most sensitive analytical balance 

 will be clearly apparent in a microscopical examination of the material. 



