CHEMICAL PHESERV A 1 l\ !>. 11 



name be accompanied on the same label or brand with a statement of the place where 

 said article has been manufactured or produced. 



Second. In the case of articles labeled, branded, or taggrd so as to plainly indicate 

 that they are compounds, imitations, or blends: /Vor/VrJ, That the term blend a- 

 nsed herein shall be construed to mean a mixture of like substances, not excluding 

 harmless coloring or flavoring ingredients: And provided further, That nothing in this 

 act shall be construed as requiring or compelling proprietors or manofacturon of pro- 

 prietary foods which contain no unwholesome added ingredient to disclose their trade 

 formulas, except in so far as the provisions of this act may require to secure freedom 

 from adulteration or misbranding. 



CHEMICAL PRESERVATIVES. 



During recent years the practice has sprung up of adding to many 

 articles of foods certain chemical substances which have the property 

 of delaying or preventing fermentation and decay. These substances 

 are commonly known as chemical preservatives. Among them are 

 salicylic, benzoic, and boric acids, and their sodium salts (sodium 

 salicylate, sodium benzoate, and borax), formaldehyde, ammonium 

 fluorid, sulphurous acid, and sulphites. 



It is claimed by those who favor the use of chemical preservatives that 

 the action of the latter is similar to that of salt, vinegar, and wood smoke, 

 and that the use of the former is not open to greater objection than that 

 of the latter. In fact, there are not wanting some who claim that the 

 former are less objectionable than the latter. The literature regard- 

 ing the wholesomeness of the so-called chemical preservatives is not by 

 any means uniform in either approving or disapproving them. It is 

 the opinion of this Bureau that they can not be regarded as entirely 

 wholesome even in the small amounts generally added to foods. The 

 recent investigations conducted by this Bureau, in which twelve men 

 were used as subjects, demonstrated that boric acid is injurious to 

 health." The experiments of the German Imperial Board of Health 

 had the same result, and Germany has prohibited the use of this pre- 

 servative altogether. It is almost universally conceded that formalde- 

 hyde and fluorids are injurious, and the weight of evidence is decidedly 

 adverse to sulphurous acid as a preservative of meat products. The 

 experiments of the Bureau of Chemistry indicate that neither salicylic 

 acid nor benzoic acid is free from injurious effects. 



There are now upon the market a large number of brands of com- 

 mercial preservatives, and there are firms who make a specialty of 

 preparing such preservatives. These substances are usually composed 

 of the chemicals mentioned above. They are frequently sold with the 

 statement that the}^ comply with all pure-food laws, that they are 

 entirely wholesome, and the claim is sometimes made that they are 

 new products, and that their presence in foods can not be detected by 



U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Circular No. 15 (digest) and Bui. No. 84, 

 Parti. 



