No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 93 



MEDIUM HIGH GRADE OLEOMARGARINE. 



Pounds. 



Oleo oil, 315 



Neutral lard, 500 



Cream, , 280 



Milk, 280 



Salt, 120 



Color, 1£ 



1,496^ 

 Producing from 1,050 to 1,080 pounds. 



HIGH GRADE OLEOMARGARINE. 



Pounds. 



Oleo oil, 100 



Neutral lard, 130 



Butter, 95 



Salt, 32 



Color, i 



3571 



Will produce about 352 pounds of oleomaragarine. 



THE USE OF BUTTER COLORS. 



The constant activity in enforcing the oleomargarine and reno- 

 vated butter laws of Pennsylvania has brought counter-charges on 

 the part of the representatives of the oleomargarine trade against 

 the use of coloring matter in butter. Some of them assert that 

 there is no good reason why the artificial coloring of the product 

 of the cow should not be prohibited, since ordinarily such butter 

 naturally possesses a distinctive yellow tinge or shade. It is further 

 declared by the anti-oleomargarine friend that there are seasons of 

 the year when butter must be artificially colored in order that it 

 may bring the highest market prices. They also claim that the 

 use of vegetable coloring matter on the part of the dairymen and 

 farmer is now almost unknown, and that those harmless materials 

 have been largely superceded and supplanted by various coal-tar 

 colors, some of which, at best are of doubtful utility, if not posi- 

 tively injurious to health. The use of annatto, which was also very 

 common at one time, for a number of reasons, has also yielded to 

 the more effective coal-tar product. 



The state of Minnesota enacted a pure food law forbidding among 

 other things the use of aniline butter colors, and later, the officials 

 in charge suspended, the enforcement of the law, fearing that the 

 state would quickly lose its prestige in the markets, since other 

 states permitted the alleged harmful or questionable coloring. 



The subject is one that should not be confined exclusively to 

 commercialism. The average farmer and dairyman is honest and 

 has conscientious scruples, and he will not knowingly poison his 

 customers; but on the other hand, he is, perhaps, justified in still be- 

 lieving the story that a lard and tallow compound was formerly 



