1278 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



Harmful preservatives. — There are preservative substances, however, 

 concerning the harmfulness of which there is no longer any doubt, and every 

 effort should be made to eliminate them from the family dietary. There 

 is no necessity for using them in food preservation, for it has been made 

 entirely possible, by better adaptation of scientific methods, to preserve 

 foods without their use. When those preservatives known to be harmful 

 are used, it is in order to save labor and thus, by cheapening the product, 

 increase profits; or it is in order to enable the manufacturer to use a poor 

 grade of material or spoiled material. 



Preserving powders. — Some housekeepers may use harmful preserva- 

 tives through an ignorance of facts. There are a number of " preserving 

 powders " on the market that claim to save the housekeeper's time and 

 effort and to enable her to can foods more successfully than she could 

 without their use. In all cases, if the powder is as effective as it claims 

 to be, the reason is that some substance is present which is harmful alike 

 to micro-organisms and to human beings. For the sake of family welfare, 

 therefore, such " aids " should never be used in home canning. The 

 household use of an artificial sweetening agent, saccharin, is also too 

 common. Saccharin is a coal-tar product and is known to be harmful. 



Laws regulating the use of preservatives. — There are laws that regulate 

 in part the commercial use of certain preservatives in the manufacture 

 of preserved foods. There is great need of more general education of the 

 public concerning the harmful effects of preservative substances, to the 

 end that the laws preventing their use may not be perverted but instead 

 may be upheld by intelligent public opinion. The change in the law 

 which at one time forbade the use of sodium benzoate as a preservative 

 substance shows the need of such education. That law has, in the face of 

 Dr. Wiley's evidence, been changed so as to permit the use of sodium 

 benzoate. The following quotations from Dr. Wiley's findings concerning 

 the harmful effects of chemical preservatives will put the reader in touch 

 with some of the facts in the case : 



Concerning the use of benzoic acid and the hcnzoates. — "Results of these 

 investigations have shown that there is not a single article of food which 

 has been commonly preserved by means of benzoic acid or benzoate of 

 soda which cannot be preserved and offered to the consumer in perfect 

 condition without the aid of any chemical preservative. This fact has 

 been completely demonstrated in the case of cider and grape juice, mince- 

 meat, jelly, jams, catsups, preserves, and other articles of the same 

 character. 



" The greater care which is required in the manufacture of food products 

 without the use of benzoic acid or benzoate of soda, necessitating the use 

 of a higher quality of raw material, will place the industries which would 



