1046 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS, 



The consumer should have all the facts before him, and if he then 

 elects to run the possible risks there is no good reason in the present 

 state of knowledge for restraining him. It is not, however, fair or good 

 policy to make him take through ignorance greater or less amounts of 

 a possibly or probably deleterious substance. 



COPPER-GREENING IN FRANCE. 



The whole question has probably been more extensively investigated 

 in France than elsewhere. As is well known, in that country the pre- 

 serving industry is one of the best developed, and the quantity of canned 

 and bottled foods yearly exported reaches enormous proportions. For 

 this export trade the United States is one of the most important markets. 

 Of the foods thus preserved canned leguminous vegetables form by 

 far the greater proportion, and of these it is estimated by the French 

 that 90 per cent are artificially greened, mostly by copper. This trade 

 is comparatively old and is firmly established. Peas, beans, etc., when 

 coppered assume a peculiar green color not altered by cooking, and 

 resembling the color of the raw vegetable, though not at all like the 

 natural color of the fresh-cooked legumes, and a taste for goods of this 

 color has grown up. 



The preserving of goods thus colored has, until within a few years, 

 been prohibited in France. It is true the law has been a dead letter, 

 but it has none the less been on the statute books. Of course, the pro- 

 hibition has not been a pleasing one for the cauuers, and they have been 

 persistent in their efforts for its abolition. This, however, they were 

 not able to secure from the government for many years in spite of the 

 influence which so great an industry must necessarily have had. Anx- 

 ious to please them, the Government has appointed commission after 

 commission of scientific men to investigate the copper question with a 

 view to rescinding the prohibition, should these investigations show 

 just ground for such action. Uniformly, up to 1889, however, these 

 commissions reported adversely, and the Government could not take 

 the desired action. In all, the struggle between the scientific Dr. Jekyll 

 and the commercial Mr. Hyde in France lasted nearly half a century 

 before culminating in the victory of the latter. The history of the con- 

 test is an interesting one. 



In Paris, a police ordinance, 1 dated February 28, 1853, prohibited 

 the use of vessels and salts of copper in the preparation of food. 



In 1860 the Comite consultatif d'hygiene publique on the report of a 

 committee composed of MM. Bussy, Ville, and Tardieu, recommended 

 that this local law be made applicable to all France. The report in 

 substance, read as follows : 2 



The fact of the introduction of copper salts into preserved green vegetables and 

 fruits has been proved. Though the amounts present are not sufficient, generally 



'Recueil des trav. du Comite" consultatif d'hygiene publi<|iic, is?.".. :!.">S. 

 2 Gautier. Conserves alimentaires reverdies au cuivre. Ann. d'hyg. publ., 1879, 

 8. 3, 1, 14. 



