232 Adulterations of Condensed Milk 



monosaccharides. Its chemical formula, like that of levulose, is 

 CgHijOe, it oxidizes readily and under the influence of yeast and 

 other micro-organisms it ferments, yielding mainly alcohol and 

 carbon dioxide. Its presence in condensed milk, therefore, is prone 

 to start fermentation, and the manufacturer who uses it with a 

 view of lessening the cost of manufacture of condensed milk is, 

 indeed, practicing poor economy. There is no adulteration of 

 sweetened condensed milk that will produce such inevitable disaster 

 as the addition to it of glucose. Aside from this fact, the law pro- 

 hibits the addition of anything except sucrose. 



Addition of Bi-Carbonate of Soda, Ammonium Hydroxide, 

 Lime Oxide and Lime Hydrate and Other Alkali. — These alkalies 

 and alkaline earths are frequently added to a poor quality of fresh 

 milk, for the purpose of neutralizing the excess of acid and pre- 

 venting the milk from curdling when exposed to heat. If used 

 in reasonable quantities, they interfere in no way with the quality 

 and healthf ulness of the product, and may in exceptional cases pre- 

 vent great loss. If used in excess, the milk will foam very badly 

 in the vacuum pan, which fenders the process of condensing a diffi- 

 cult one and the finished product has a bitter flavor. Under ordi- 

 nary conditions, their use is entirely unnecessary and simply means 

 additional labor and expense. The above agents and also viscogen, 

 are sometimes used with the view of thickening the product and in- 

 creasing the 'output. Experimental results,^ however, showed that 

 these agents cannot be used in large enough quantities to produce 

 the above results without materially lowering the quality of the 

 product. 



Addition of Cream of Tartar. — Cream of tartar is used ex- 

 tensively in the manufacture of candies and caramels. Its purpose 

 is to make the sugar in these products precipitate in the form of 

 very fine and soft crystals. Condenseries, which have been con- 

 tinually troubled with sugar crystallization and sugar sediment, have 

 tried to overcome this defect by adding cream of tartar to the 

 sweetened milk in the vacuum pan. Cream of tartar is an acid 

 salt (acid potassium tartrate, KH.C^H^Oa), and it is this acid 

 w'hich in the manufacture of candy causes the fine and soft grain 

 of the sugar. It is obvious that if enough cream of tartar were 

 added to condensed milk to produce the desired effect on the sugar, 



1 Hunziker. Experiments not published. 



