l62 MAINE AGRICUI.TURAI. EXPERIMENT STATION. I909. 



In view, therefore, of the necessarily incomplete nature of these 

 experiments of the Referee Board; of the fact that the only- 

 arguments brought forward by the only champions of the use 

 of preservatives in foods — the manufacturers who use benzoate 

 of soda in their products and the manufacturers of benzoate of 

 soda itself — are (i) not that it is beneficial but that it is not 

 harmful and (2) that its use is necessary for the preservation 

 of certain classes of food which could not be made to keep with- 

 out it (a statement which is, however, contradicted in word and 

 practice by many manufacturers who prepare the same foods 

 without the use of artificial preservatives and say that cleanly 

 and wholesome ingredients and sanitary manufacture are the 

 only requisites for making their preparation without preserva- 

 tives possible) ; and in view of the fact that the physicians of 

 the country, almost without exception, express themselves 

 unqualifiedly against, the use of drugs of any sort in foods ; it 

 would seem that the desirability of the use of benzoate of soda 

 as a preservative is at least doubtful. 



But there is another question to be asked relative to the use 

 of benzoate of soda in food which is fully as important as the 

 question whether the drug itself is harmful ; does the use of 

 preservatives in food permit the use of inferior, waste or 

 damaged materials in the preparation of foods in which they are 

 used? And the answer to this question seems to be in the 

 affirmative. Manufacturers, however, who desire to use benzo- 

 ate of soda in their products claim that the preservative can- 

 not possibly conceal inferiority because it is beyond its power 

 to do more than keep the goods in their original condition ; that 

 is, it cannot improve what is once spoiled. This is true as far 

 as it goes ; but they do not add the perfectly obvious fact that 

 the use of an artificial preservative will keep goods that are 

 just on the point of spoiling from going beyond that condition 

 to the point when they will be absolutely unfit for use, and the 

 use of a preservative may make a food product salable when 

 normally it would spoil before it could be gotten to market. 

 That goods in such a condition are inferior there is no question. 



A specific instance that has recently come under our direct 

 notice is an illustration of the real purpose of the manufacturer 

 in adding preservatives to food products. Last spring one of 

 the inspectors from this Station purchased from a Maine dealer 



