85 



gests for ergot 

 Because of the toyio properties of ergot it is absolutely 

 ^y to have some way of detormini^ the presence of ergot in flour 

 an toead. as well as Jn t3ie milling products fed to aninals. There are 

 at present several ways An v^ich this can te done, and there are some 

 differences of opinion as to *ich is the most accurate and practicable. 



Ergot can "b^ determined in such products by treating a 

 snajl amount witli an allsali or an acid (177). With the first it gives 

 a violet, with the secojad a red color. Absence of color shows that no 

 ergot is present in th« treated sajople. a good irethod is to take two 

 grams of flour, add to this 10 cc. acid alcohol { a solution containing 

 70 percent alcohol a^jd 15 percent concentrated hydrochloric acid) . It 

 will give a red color even when only 0.2 pejrcent ergot is present (71). 

 Some claim that th^s method is unreliable because there are other 

 impurities in flonr whicb may also give red calor nahile others insist 

 that no other in^^orities give this reaction, ^y heating a portion of the 

 sample with a solution of- caustic potash a characteristic herring or 

 trimethylamine odor shows the presence of ergot. 



!I!iie follomiig is a microscopical test for ergot in flour. 

 One milogram fif flour is placed in a drop of water on a slide, this is 

 then heated t1^ the boiliag point. The starch streams away inmBsdiately, 

 permitting an undistnrbed observation of the object. The ergot particles 

 are very chairacteristic and by a magnification of ICO to 120 can be 

 distingulshaia from other tissues Tby their density, by their dark violet 

 color at th^ edges, the g?reenish yellow color of their cross walls, and 

 by the part^^cularly indented edges. According to Ilax Gruber (83) this 

 method is •Scact, expedient, eai^ to use and applice.ble for bread and batoed 

 foods. Otfiers have critii^ized the method seTOrely and doubted its usefulBSSS. 



