344 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



SCIENTIFIC STANDARDS FOR THE GOVERNMENTAL 

 REGULATION OF FOODS 



By JOHN R. MURLIN, A.M., Ph.D. 



ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY. CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE, 



NEW YORK CITY 



THUS far in our attempts to regulate by law the purity of foods 

 admitted to interstate commerce, practically no attention has 

 been paid to the real physiological economy of foods. Questions of 

 purity, of what constitutes an adulterant, " What is ice cream ? " etc., 

 have been much before the public and much before the courts. The 

 bone of contention in most cases has been not how much food value does 

 a given product contain, but is it properly labeled or is it adulterated? 



From the strictly legal point of view anything is an adulterant which 

 belies the label ; but from the physiological point of view nothing is an 

 adulterant unless it really impairs the food value. Jams made with 

 commercial glucose instead of cane sugar might very properly be ex- 

 cluded from commerce under the law as it stands, unless the label states 

 clearly the fact that glucose is contained; but such jams would have 

 exactly as much food value as if made of ordinary sugar, for glucose 

 yields as much energy to the body as does cane or beet sugar. Similarly, 

 nobody likes to be defrauded even in a technical sense and get oleomar- 

 garine under the label of butter, but how does the matter stand if 

 oleo proves to be just as nutritious as butter ? Is it not time there were 

 an adequate standard for judging of food values ? Should not the food 

 manufacturers— those who put up foods in packages and sell them under 

 protected trade marks — be required to correctly express on the label the 

 real physiological value of their products? If the purchaser has a 

 choice of oleo plainly labeled at 25 cents a pound or of butter properly 

 so designated at 40 cents a pound, what determines his choice? First 

 of all, probably, the taste. But if it were practicable to show also the 

 relative food value of the two parcels, would not this factor enter into 

 his decision, and is not the purchaser entitled to this information? 

 Similarly with other kinds of food. Take the cereal breakfast foods. 

 Their number is legion. How is the purchaser to make an intelligent 

 selection ? At present the only way is first to buy and try the taste, the 

 " lasting qualities," etc. But if it were possible to learn from the label 

 its fuel value the housekeeper would be able to select from the staple 

 articles either the most pleasing or the most nourishing foods. 



According to the best scientific information to-day foods serve two 



