478 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



less. Some states forbid the sale of foods colored with these dyes but as 

 long as the health is protected we believe the child should have his 

 striped stick of candy, his pink ice cream and red strawberry pop. 



A large amount of sophistication existed in flavoring extracts. Lemon 

 extracts were made with dilute alcohol, a trace of lemon oil or citral and 

 highly colored to make the housewife believe it contained a large amount 

 of flavoring. Vanilla extracts were made of synthetic vanillin, courmarin 

 a.nd prune juice and sold as double and triple strength vanilla with a pic- 

 ture of a cluster of vanilla beans on the label. Banana, pineapple, etc., 

 extracts, were sold for double strength products. The law has rectified 

 these conditions by defining an extract as requiring at least 5% of lemon 

 oil in lemon extract, a definite amount of vanilla beans in vanilla and in 

 the case of banana, pineapple, etc., they must be sold as imitations as 

 there is no true extract made from these fruits, they being made by mixing 

 certain alcohols and ethers. 



The mixing of cotton seed oil 'with olive oil is still practiced to some 

 extent, the temptation being strong to get olive oil prices for the much 

 cheaper cotton seed oil. Some dealers have even sold pure cotton seed 

 oil for olive oil, with the picture of a cluster of ripe olives upon the label 

 v/ith French or Italian inscriptions. 



It was a common practice also to ship American cotton seed oil to 

 Europe where it was mixed with olive oil and returned to the United 

 States under a fancy brand of olive oil. There are now at the principal 

 ports of entry into this country Federal imports laboratories where all 

 foods offered for entry are analyzed and if found not to be in compliance 

 with our food laws, are returned to their foreign owners. This has stopped 

 all entry of misbranded and adulterated foods into the United States. 



Spices did not escape the efforts of the adulterator. They were grossly 

 mixed with ground olive stones and ground cocoanut shells. Cayenne 

 pepper was mixed with gypsum and colored with a bright red dye to hide 

 the adulterant. Black pepper was much adulterated with pepper shells. 

 As white pepper is made by taking off the outer shell of black pepper, the 

 shells were a waste and many of them were disposed of by mixing them 

 with the black pepper. 



Standards established by our food laws require jellies, james, preserves, 

 etc., to be made from the fruit juice and cane sugar, but before these 

 standards were established these products were made in many cases of 

 starch, gelatine, glucose, an artificial fruit flavor, and colored with dyes. 



Timothy and millet seed was in some cases used to imitate the seeds 

 of the fruit. An apple base was much used in certain brands of these 

 products and is still used but now the label so states while fornierly it 

 was labelled as being made entirely of the more expensive and desirable 

 fruit. Apple juice is the most plentiful and cheapest of the fruit juices 

 and being rich in pectin jellies very easily, while the juice of most of the 

 common berries jellies with difficulty or not at all. These facts have lead 

 to the practice of using apple juice as a base for mixing with other fruit 

 juices for jelly and jam. This practice is of course harmless and legiti- 

 mate but the label must show the consumer that the produce has been 

 made from these ingredients. 



