REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 291 



ADULTERATION OF SPICES AND CONDIMENTS. 

 By Clifford Richardson. 



The class of substances, including mustard, pepper, cayenne and 

 chillis, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and mace, cinnamon and cassia, and 

 allspice, which are commonly designated as spices and condiments in 

 the discussion of foods and dietaries, are probably more largely sub- 

 ject to adulteration and with less attempt at concealment than any of 

 the foods proper. Fortunately the sophistication is simply the addi- 

 tion of material of a harmless nature for the purpose of diluting the 

 more expensive si^ices and making it possible to reduce the price in 

 accordance with the demands of the dealer and eventually the con- 

 sumer. 



These substances were originally luxuries and not regarded as an 

 essential part of the diet of even the richer classes; now the poorest 

 man is not satisfied without them, and pepper is as well known and 

 as much emx^loyed as salt. All this has had much to do with the in- 

 troduction of adulteration as a means of catering to the demands of 

 the lower classes for cheap spices, and increasing step by step its 

 extent until the adulteration has become so gross in many cases as 

 to expose itself or bring about the enactment of laws for the repres- 

 sion of the sale of such substances. At the present time in several of 

 our largest cities the price to be paid for a spice is named by the re- 

 tail dealers, and he is then supplied from the spice-mill with a mixture 

 containing the largest amount of pure material which can be supplied 

 for the money, the necessary weight being made up of diluents of 

 some cheap but harmless substance. As an example, the fact that a 

 New York firm in a short time used and put into the market in their 

 spices more than 5,000 pounds of cocoanut shells shows how far the 

 custom has been carried, and it is easy to see how difficult it would 

 be to bring this state of things to an end without some governmental 

 action, it being improbable that by any means of agreement among 

 themselves the grinders of spices could unite in doing away with the 

 practice, or that any education of the masses would teach them to 

 refuse to purchase a ground spice at a price which is far below that 

 of the unground article. 



This alone, the relation between the prices of ground and unground 

 spices, is often sufficient to point out the fact that a ground spice 

 must be largely diluted, and on the other hand, when purchasing 

 from a reliable dealer, a slight increase in cost over that of the spice 

 in its original form is evidence of the purity of the powder. Those 

 v/ho desire pure ground spices can always obtain them by paying 

 their value; tliey are by no means uncommon in the market, but as 

 long as there are those who do not know that it is for their interest 

 to buy the best rather than a cheap article for its low price, such 

 people must suffer or be protected by legal enactments, which shall 

 prevent and prohibit the existence of such mixtures. Until this is 

 done the sujjply of a demand which certainly exists may be considered 

 to be at the least justifiable on the part of the si)ice millers, and ed- 

 ucation of those ignorant of the state of the trade must be the pre- 

 liminary to legislation upon the subject. When proper legislation has 

 found a place on the statute-books the manufacturers will find them- 

 selves in a position where, without detriment to themselves, they can 

 all unite in giving up the practice. 



