COPPER-GREENING IN GERMANY. 



1067 



food law by which, copper-greening is prohibited, has been vigorously 

 agitated for some years. In 1890, the Freie Vereinigung bayerischer 

 Vertreter der angewandten Chemie (Independent association of Bava- 

 rian representatives of applied chemistry) resolved to investigate the 

 subject. At the Augsburg meeting, July 18, 1891, Mayrhofer reported 

 in substance as follows : 1 



Preserves cooked in copper vessels, but not intentionally colored, contain small 

 amounts of copper. In the following table the figures given represent milligrams 

 of copper found in a kilo of the food (parts per million) : 



Samples of green-colored fruits were found to contain : 



Raw, uncolored fruit contained : 



In the case of green vegetables there were found : 



In the reporter's opinion presence of copper to the amount of 20 to 24 nig of copper 

 per kilo of vegetables is sufficient to impart the desired green color, and he proposes 

 that this amount be declared allowable. 



Reference was made to the fact that if coppering canned foods were prohibited 

 the German industry would be handicapped in competition with the French. 



DISCUSSION. 



In the subsequent discussion Dr. Karsch remarked that he understood that the 

 French limit of 24 mg had been adopted as a result of a case of poisoning with 

 cucumbers. 



>Ber. bayr. Vertr. angew. Chem.. 1891, 10, 77. 



