COPPER IN CANNED PEAS. 



1075 



grams of the metal hi question in a kilo of the material as it came from 

 the can. In some cases calculations are given of the quantities con- 

 tained in a single can, and in this instance also the figures refer to the 

 whole contents of the can, not to the vegetables alone. 



PEAS. 



There were 81 samples of canned and bottled peas examined. Of 

 these 43 were packed in this country and the remaining 38 were labeled 

 or sold as being of foreign packing. All these foreign samples were 

 French, with one exception, No. 10719, which came from Italy. In the 

 subjoined table are given the amounts of copper found in the French peas. 

 The quantities of the metal given represent milligrams per kilo (parts 

 per million) of the total contents of the bottle or can. This is the cus- 

 tomary method of calculating, but in France another is sometimes used 

 by which the copper is estimated only in the peas, the surrounding 

 liquor being poured off before the analysis. This is done on the assump- 

 tion that all copper is present in the peas and that none exists in the 

 surrounding liquor. 



Copper in French peas. 



1 Colored with zinc. ' " Au naturel." 



2 Bore no label, but was sold as French peaa. 4 "A I'auglaise." 



It will be seen from an inspection of this table that copper was pres- 

 ent in every sample, with two exceptions, Nos. 10629 and 10870. The 

 former of these samples was undoubtedly greened by the zinc process 

 (see page 1051). The other when bought bore no label, but was sold as 

 being " French peas." It may not have been packed abroad. In the 

 other samples copper is present in amounts below Grimaux's proposed 

 18 mg limit in two cases. 



In the American peas copper is not nearly so common, and in few 

 instances does it occur in quantities sufficient to warrant the assump- 

 tion that it entered otherwise than through the use of copper utensils. 

 The occurrence of copper in these samples may be tabulated as follows: 



