564 POODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



RECENT INVESTIGATIONS. 



Two important studies of the composition and character of baking- 

 powders have been made recently, one under the direction of the Ohio 

 Dairy and Food Commission, and the other by the Dairy Commissioner 

 of the State of New Jersey. 1 Work done in this way, which has the 

 authority and weight of official sanction, is most valuable, and I have 

 drawn largely upon the reports above mentioned in the following pages. 

 Many other analyses of baking-powders have been made from time to 

 time, and several extensive investigations have been carried out upon 

 the relative merits of different kinds of powders. In fact " baking- 

 powder literature" is quite extensive. The active competition between 

 makers of different brands, and the methods used by them in advertis- 

 ing their goods, have made readers of newspapers and magazines 

 familiar with all sorts of parti-colored statements about baking-powders 

 in general, and certain classes and brands in particular, and unfortu- 

 nately such matter is not always confined to advertising columns. 

 Most persons know comparatively little about baking-powders, and the 

 general ignorance on the subject is taken advantage of and intensified 

 by the manufacturers. The analyses and testimonials of eminent chem- 

 ists frequently appear in such advertisements, and are often couched 

 in terms that do little credit to the profession. I can nrake no use 

 of such publications ; the only material I can accept as trustworthy 

 are the reports cited above, where the official character of the work 

 done affords ample assurance that the investigators were influenced by 

 unbiased and disinterested motives. It is the proper province of such 

 bodies as State boards of health to make investigations of this kind, 

 and results arrived at in this way are always entitled to credence, while 

 the conclusions of scientific men, however expert they may be, are 

 always open to doubt when ttey receive compensation from parties 

 who are interested in having the results lean in their direction. 



ADULTERATION. 



There is no recognized standard for the composition of a baking-pow- 

 der, either in this country or abroad. To prove from a legal point 

 of view that a powder was adulterated, it would be necessary to show 

 that it contained some substance injurious to health. Most of the 

 treatises on food adulteration give but little attention to this class of 



While the present publication was passing through the press, I have received 

 another official publication upon this subject, constituting Bulletin No. 10 of the 

 Laboratory of the Inland Revenue Department, Ottawa, Canada, and prepared by 

 A. McGill, assistant to chief analyst. I regret that it appeared too late to allow of 

 the incorporation into the present publication of any of the results and conclusions 

 contained in it. Most of the powders examined wore of Canadian manufacture, but 

 the leading American brands were also included, and the analyses were quite com- 

 plete. 



