FROM CHURN TO PACKAGE 149 



113. Artificial color. — The first artificial color used 

 in intensifying the shade of butter was a water extract 

 of certain vegetables, the carrot being used chiefly. Later 

 coal tar dyes were employed. Now a few of these dyes 

 only, which are fat soluble and are harmless, are permitted 

 to be used. Following is the position held by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture : ^ " The coloring of 

 butter is specifically permitted in the law of August 2, 

 1886 (24 stat. 209), and the coloring of cheese in the law 

 of June 6, 1896 (29 stat. 253). It is held by the Depart- 

 ment that the Food and Drugs Act does not repeal the 

 provisions of the acts referred to above, and the addition 

 of harmless color to these substances may be practiced 

 as therein provided, and that the presence of coloring 

 matter specifically recognized by acts of Congress as a 

 constituent is not required to be declared on the label." 

 Most butter color, at present, is of vegetable origin; 

 and the annatto seed ^ is the main source of the coloring 

 substance. About 3 per cent of this seed is coloring 

 material. This color is mixed in an oil solvent so that it 

 will color the fat and not the casein of the milk or cream. 

 It is interesting to know that cheese color is mixed in an 

 alkaline solution which has an affinity for the casein of 

 the milk. 



114. Mottles have a direct effect on the commercial' 

 value of the butter, as seen in Fig. 48 (page 150). An 

 ideal color is one that is uniform throughout, as shown in 

 Fig. 49. The exact source of mottles in butter has not 

 been studied as much as many other phases of the manu- 



1 Coloring of Butter and Cheese. Westervelt's Pure Food 

 and Drug Laws, p. 1457, 1912. 



' The seed of Bixa Orellana, a tropical small tree, of the natural 

 family Bixaceos. 



