FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 659 



Preliminary report of the dairy and food commissioner for the year 1908, 

 J. FousT (Pcnti. Dvpt. Agr. Bui. 1S3, pp. 57).— A summary is given of the work 

 of the department, and statistics of a number of analyses of canned vegetables 

 and h-uits, dairy products, meats and fish, cakes, ice creams, flours, and other 

 foodstuffs which were examined are discussed. 



A list of creameries in ronnsylvnnia is also given, together with an article by 

 W. Frear on the dairy industry in Pennsylvania, and a pai)er by C. II. La Wall 

 and II. P. Cassidy on the trade in decayed eggs known as "rots" and "spots" 

 and their employment in food i»roducts, in which a large amount of information 

 is sunmiarized regarding the handling and marketing of eggs, egg preservation, 

 the uses of spoiled eggs by bakers, and the importance of restricting the use of 

 such materials to technical purposes. 



Report of the Department of Food and Drugs, State Board of Health, for 

 June, 1909, H. E. Barnard (Mo. Bill. Ind. Bd. Health. Li (I'lO!)), \o. G, pp. 

 7S-S.i). — Of 142 samples of canned goods, ice cream, milk. ;ind beverages exam- 

 ined 4(1 were found to be illegal. 



Report of the Department of Food and Drug's, State Board of Health, 

 for July, 1909, H. E. Barnard {Mo. Bui. Ind. Bd. Health. 12 (1909), No. 7, pp. 

 90-9.'f) .—Of 312 samples of sausage, meat, dairy products, baking powders, beer, 

 and other materials examined 1S9 were declared illegal. 



Information is also given regarding the inspection work in groceries, markets, 

 canning factories, flour mills, milk depots, etc.. and regarding the prosecutions 

 brought under the state law. 



Bacon curing- in Scotland, L. M. Douglas (Trans. Highland and Agr. ,Sfoc. 

 Scot., 5. ser., 21 (1909), pp. 58-74, ^f7«. 7).— A general and statistical article on 

 the Scotch bacon industry in comparison with bacon production in Ireland. 



Electric process of curing meat (Pure Products, 5 (1909), No. 8, pp. 401. 

 1/02) — A recently devised process is described in which meat is placed in pickle 

 in vats which have systems of electrodes at each end, forming poles from which 

 an electric current passes thi'ough the brine and meat, alternating from pole to 

 pole. It is claimed that the meat cures much more rapidly than by the usual 

 process. 



Remarks on the electric process of curing meat, O. W. Willcox (Pure 

 Products, 5 (1909), No. 8, p. 402). — The author discusses critically the electric 

 process of curing meat noted above and its possible relation to the pure food 

 laws. In his opinion the sodium chlorid is dissociated by the electric current 

 and recombined in the meat, forming sodium hypochlorite. " Viewing the proc- 

 ess simply from the known facts of electrolysis, the electric meat-curing jtrocess 

 appears as a process of bringing the meat into contact with a solution of a pretty 

 strong antiseptic." 



Observations on an outbreak of meat poisoning at Limerick, E. J. Mc- 

 Wekni:y (Brit. Med. Jour., 191)9. No. 2.',2'i. Pl>. 1 171-1 ll.i).—\ disastrous out- 

 break of food poisoning, with a number of deaths, was traced to the eating of 

 warmed over meat and was caused, according to the author's conclusion, jtartly 

 by bacterial intoxication and partly by infection, the causal micro-organism 

 being Bacillus cntcritidis. It seems probable that the animal was sickly and 

 harbored the bacillus at the time of slaughter. 



"The practical lesson to be derivetl from the observation of this occurrence 

 is twofold. First, it indicates the need there is for the abolition of the private 

 slaughterhouse and [the need) for the inspection of all animals used ftir hinnan 

 food, both before, during, and after slaughter; secondly, it «'mph.isizes the danger 

 arising from the use of old scraps of meat, and especially of beef. If, on eco- 

 nomic grounds, such leftover pieces must be used u|\ the only way of avoiding 

 or diminishing the danger would seem to l)e very thorough ami prolonged iioiling. 



