138 



FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



On the results of his examination of the commercial ground spices 

 he comments, after giving the proportions which were found adulter- 

 ated, in tliese words : 



As tlie above table shows, a large proportion of them are adulterated, and that with 

 substances presenting a certain uniformity. The spices present an inviting field for 

 the exercise of fraudulent arts. They are almost universally sold in the form of fine 

 powder and in opaque packages, which do not admit of easy examination on the part 

 of the purchaser. Consequently any cheap substance which may be easily pulver- 

 ized to a similar degree of fineness, and which possesses little distinctive taste or odor 

 of its own, answers the purpose ; so that the list of adulterants for this class of ar- 

 ticles is naturally very large. The adulterations found in the samples now under 

 consideration may be classed into four groups. First, integuments of grains of seeds, 

 such as bran of wheat and buckwheat, hulls of mustard seed, flax seed, &c. Second, 

 farinaceous substances of low price, such as are damaged by the accidents of trans- 

 portation or long storage such as middlings of various kinds, corn-meal, and stale 

 ship's bread. Third, leguminous seeds, as peas and beans, which contribute largely 

 to the profit of the spice mixer. Fourth, various articles chosen with reference to 

 their suitableness for bringing up the mixture as nearly as possible to the required 

 standard of color of the genuine article. Various 'shades, from light colors to dark 

 browns, may be obtained by the skillful roasting of farinaceous and leguminous sub- 

 stances. A little turmeric goes a great way in imparting the rich yellow hue of real 

 mustard to a pale counterfeit of wheat flour and terra alba, or the defective paleness 

 of artificial black pepper is brought up to the desired tone by the judicious sifting in 

 of a little finely pulverized charcoal. Enough has been already given to show that 

 the field for sophistications of this sort is a wide one, and offers large scope for the 

 development of inventive genius; so that each manufacturer of articles of this class 

 would be likely to possess his own trade secrets. It will be observed that the adul- 

 terating materials just mentioned all belong to the class claimed to be harmless. In 

 no instance has any poisonous substance been discovered. The proportion of foreign 

 and genuine substances in the spices varies between wide limits, in some instances 

 the former being slight; in others, the latter seemingly present in just sufficient 

 quantity to impart faintly the requisite taste or odor. Even this small proportion of the 

 professed article is occasionally further diminished by the substitution of other sub- 

 stances ; as, for example, in imparting to corn-meal finely ground a pungency sug- 

 gested by real ginger by the addition of a little salt and red pepper. 



It is probably not so widely known as it should be that the demand for the mate- 

 rials for adulteration has called into existence a branch of manufacturing industry of 

 no insignificant magnitude, having for its sole object the production of articles known 

 as " spice mixtures" or "pepper dust." The use of " pepper dust," or, as the article 

 is commonly designated in the technical language of the trade by its abbreviatiou 

 " P. D.," is a venerable fraud. 



