PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



" What a Man Eats He Is." 



Edited by C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D. 

 Author of "On Citraconic, Itaconicand Mesaconic Acids, '' "Fish as Food," etc. 

 RENOVATED BUTTER. 



Harrisburg, Pa. 

 In your September number I notice an 

 article on Renovated Butter. I send you 

 a circular lately issued by the Dairy and 

 Pure Food Commissioner of this State, 

 who. by the way, is the originator of the 

 term "renovated butter." Mr. Wells tells 

 me he is now satisfied that while the putrid 

 odor attached to this mixture before it is 

 subjected to the renovating process is re- 

 moved by that process, the putrid condition, 

 with all of its disease germs, still remains. 

 Nature's flag, the odor, has simply been 

 hauled down and the stuff rendered, be- 

 cause of the lack of such warning, much 

 more dangerous. 



Joseph Kalbfus, 

 Secretary Pennsylvania Game Commission. 



FROM ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DAIRY AND 

 FOOD COMMISSIONER FOR 1898. 



It may be of interest to many to know 

 what renovated butter is. It is also known 

 under several alias, such as boiled, pro- 

 cess, and aerated butter, and is produced 

 from the lowest grade of butter that can 

 be found in country stores or elsewhere. It 

 is of such poor quality that in its normal 

 condition it is unfit for human food. It 

 is generally rancid, is often filthy in ap- 

 pearance, and of various hues in color, from 

 nearly a snow white along the various 

 shades of yellow up to the reddish cast, or 

 bric.v color. It is usually packed in shoe 

 boxes or anything else that may be con- 

 venient , without much regard to cleanliness 

 or favorable appearance. The merchant is 

 glad to get rid of it, with its unwholesome 

 smell, at almost any price, usually expect- 

 ing it will find its way to some soap factory 

 where it naturally belongs ; but in this he is 

 mistaken. 



We have in our State 2 extensive plants 

 using large quantities of this original stock, 

 and converting it into what is often branded 

 and sold for creamery butter. It is first 

 dumped into large tanks surrounded with 

 jackets containing hot water, and melted 

 at a temperature ranging from 100 to no 

 degrees Fahrenheit. After being thoroughly 

 melted the heavier solids sink to the bot- 

 tom and the lighter particles rise to the 

 top. When these are skimmed off, the 

 clear butter fat is left with the heavier 

 sediment at the bottom. 



This butter fat is then removed to other 

 tanks, jacketed and surrounded with hot 



water like the first. The odor of the fat 

 at this stage is anything but agreeable, and 

 the main object of the next manipulation is 

 to remove the stench from it. This is sup- 

 posed to be accomplished by aeration, the 

 fat passing out of a pipe at the bottom of 

 the tank. With a rotary pump it is again 

 elevated in a pipe over the top of the tank, 

 and discharged through a strainer into the 

 same. Thus, to remove the disagreeable 

 odors, a continuous circuit and agitation of 

 this liquid butter fat is kept up. It is 

 claimed by some that chemicals are also 

 used for this purpose; but I have been as- 

 sured by persons engaged in the business 

 that this is not true. When the fat is suf- 

 ficiently aerated the machinery is changed 

 by removing the funnel shaped strainer, and 

 large quantities of skim milk are added ; in 

 just what proportion I am unable to state, 

 but can approximate the quantity. An 

 analysis of the finished product showed 

 only 75 per cent, of butter fat, and as it 

 contained nothing but the fat and milk and 

 a small amount of salt, there must have 

 been about 25 per cent, of milk added. A 

 perfect emulsion of the milk and butter fat 

 is obtained by the same machinery that did 

 the aerating, excepting the strainer, and it 

 is accomplished in a very short time. When 

 the milk has all disappeared the melted 

 mass looks much as it did before the milk 

 was added. 



It is next run off in pipes to a vat of ice 

 and water, where it is quickly chilled, tak- 

 ing the granular form and looking like or- 

 dinary butter before being worked. It is 

 then worked, salted, if necessary, and 

 printed or packed in tubs for shipment, 

 often as fresh creamery butter. 



I do not know how a greater fraud could 

 be perpetrated on the unsuspecting con- 

 sumer or on legitimate dairy interests, than 

 is done by these manufacturers of spurious 

 butter. In the first place, 20 to 25 per cent, 

 of the compound is skim milk, for which 

 the consumer pays the price of butter. Be- 

 sides this, the filthy condition of the foun- 

 dation stock before any manipulation oc- 

 curs, were it known, would deter people 

 from eating it. It certainly should only be 

 allowed to be sold for what it is. namely, 

 renovated butter. It is a fraud because 

 it has no keeping qualities. Being so heavily 

 charged with skim milk, unless kept at a 

 low temperature, it soon becomes putrid. 

 The manufacturer and jobber may get it off 

 their hands before it deteriorates, but be- 



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