COPPEE-GREENING IN FRANCE. 1061 



fall still lower, but even these reached 78 to 80 mg per kilo. On miscellaneous 

 samples sold under various names, the results ranged from 175 to 195 mg. Results 

 obtained with the permission of the prefect of police from the municipal laboratory 

 of the city of Paris varied from nothing or a mere trace, to 184 mg per kilo. The 

 extreme limit was found in a sample of peas (petits pois) sent in, while in the 

 samples seized by the police the largest amounts were 36 mg in "haricots flageo- 

 lets," 128 mg in "haricots verts," and 14 in "petits pois." The differences may 

 have been due to the degree of maturity or to the thickness of the cortical envelope 

 of the legume. 



At any rate, the diversity of the figures obtained shows that it is quite possible to 

 introduce into the legumes much larger proportions of the metal than are necessary 

 for greening. This proportion being always given as from 16 to 20 mg, it is easily 

 seen that it is habitually exceeded. It has been repeatedly asserted that if the limit 

 were overstepped to any extent the vegetables could not be used, the copper reveal- 

 ing itself to the taste. The reporter has not altered his opinion on this subject, ex- 

 pressed in 1881, for he himself has frequently eaten and had others eat unawares 

 preserves containing anywhere from 180 to 270 mg of copper, and no objectionable 

 flavor was detected. These two points may be considered perfectly established: 

 First, that the limit of 16 to 20 mg of copper is habitually passed; second, that veg- 

 etables are capable of absorbing a quantity of copper sufficient to affect the health of 

 the consumer without betraying the fact to the taste. Although most of the com- 

 mission of 1881 recognized the innocuousness of copper in the quantities in which it 

 is found in preserved vegetables, the majority thought that in certain exceptional cases 

 it could become injurious, and that since it is not indispensable to the manufacture 

 of greened vegetables, it was not desirable to repeal the original prohibition, judg- 

 ing it unwise to open the door to abuses which would not fail to follow were any 

 toleration granted. There is a simple method of reconciling the conflicting inter- 

 ests, affording the interested canners an opportunity to place their goods before the 

 public and leave there the responsibility of choice. This measure, originally the 

 suggestion of Pasteur and the recommendation of two previous commissions, is sim- 

 ply to require each canner to inscribe on his label in distinct characters the nature 

 of the substances added to the vegetable in the process of preservation. Numerous 

 objections have been made to this proposition. It has been claimed that it would be 

 equivalent to a prohibition, since the public in its ignorance would never consent to 

 buy goods bearing this label, but it was rejected principally because in the present 

 state of our legislation it is impossible to force the canners to comply with it. The 

 question has not been allowed to rest by those who are fearful lest their business 

 suffer if the public is to become aware of the presence of copper in their goods. 



The association of canners at Paris, that at Bordeaux, and that of Brittany and 

 the Vende~e have appealed to the minister for authority to continue the use of cop- 

 per. The process is to be considered not only from a hygienic standpoint as render- 

 ing the product injurious to health, but from the commercial side as constituting an 

 adulteration by which goods are given a color which they do not naturally have, 

 and which the simple process of preservation would not impart. Therefore it is an 

 adulteration and should be prosecuted as such by the authorities. 



If the prefect of police has the right to demand that margarine and its products 

 be marked as such, and if the Coinite" at its last session saw fit to advise the 

 measure, why has not the Government the right and power to pass an analogous 

 measure in the case of legumes prepared by the copper process? If it has not the 

 right there is still the resource of proposing to Parliament the adoption of a law 

 that will give them the right. It would be desirable not only for the present case 

 but in all cases in which industry considers it indispensable to introduce into food 

 either liquid or solid a foreign product which does not figure in it naturally, either 

 for the purpose of improving it or of facilitating its preservation. The object is not 

 merely to preserve the public health, but above all to secure good faith in commer- 



