PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



65 



are not as a rule a wholesome and useful 

 article of diet. 



The potato is essentially a starchy food, 

 and eaten alone it would furnish _ a 

 one-sided, badly balanced diet, which 

 would probably prove unwholesome to 

 most people, as it has been estimated that 

 a man in health, performing a moderate 

 amount of muscular work, is best main- 

 tained by a diet furnishing daily 0.25 pound 

 protein in addition to fat and carbo- 

 hydrates enough to make the total fuel 

 value 3,500 calories, while a man without 

 active physical labor might be well nour- 

 ished with 0.20 pound of protein and 3,000 

 calories of energy. When the- potato is 

 eaten with meat, eggs, fish, etc., which are 

 essentially nitrogenous foods, a well bal- 

 anced diet, which is most conducive to 

 health and vigor, is secured. 



Scientific investigation shows that the 

 practice, which has become so general, of 

 serving potatoes with meat and other sim- 

 ilar foods which contain liberal amounts 

 of protein is based on correct principles, 

 one food supplying the deficiencies of the 

 other. 



Potatoes and other foods containing car- 

 bohydrates are sometimes objected to on 

 the ground that they are starchy foods and 

 do not supply much nitrogenous material. 

 It should be remembered, however, that the 

 potato does contain a by no means incon- 

 siderable amount of protein, and further 

 that carbohydrates are an essential part of 

 a well regulated diet. A number of Ger- 

 man and Russian digestion experiments 

 show that potatoes properly cooked furnish 

 such material in a digestible form. They 

 have been a staple article of diet for many 

 years without harmful results, and there- 

 fore the conclusion that under ordinary 

 circumstances they are other than a use- 

 ful and wholesome food seems unwar- 

 ranted. 



COATING CHEESE WITH PARAFFIN TO 

 PREVENT MOLD. 



Paraffin is frequently used in the house- 

 hold as a means of protecting jellies, jams, 

 etc., from mold. The common practice is 

 to melt the paraffin and pour a layer of it 

 on the surface of the jelly or jam. The 

 paraffin hardens and prevents the access of 

 air, and hence the access of mold spores. 

 The glasses or jars may then be covered in 

 the usual way. 



Paraffin has been recommended as a cov- 

 ering for cheese for the prevention of 

 mold. A specimen examined by the Wis- 

 consin Experiment Station in studying its 

 fitness for this purpose was colored yellow 

 to correspond with the color of the cheese. 

 To apply the paraffin it was melted over a 

 water bath and the cheese, suspended by a 

 pair of grappling hooks or wire, was 

 dipped in the hot paraffin for a few sec- 



onds. When removed from the bath the 

 paraffin hardened quickly in a thin coat, 

 completely covering the cheese. Cheeses 

 of different ages, after treatment with par- 

 affin, were placed in a close, damp cellar, 

 where mold would grow readily. It 

 was found that if the cheese was not 

 handled carefully the paraffin would break 

 away and mold would grow beneath it. 

 When properly coated, the paraffin layer 

 was said to be a complete protection 

 against the growth of mold. The appear- 

 ance of the cheese was, however, not 

 thought to be quite so good as before 

 coating. 



Cheeses varying in age from a few days 

 to 3 months were experimented on. It 

 is said that the coating on the cheese pre- 

 vented the access of air and modified the 

 curing, for after a month's time the flavor 

 of the new cheese was decidedly impaired, 

 while in cheese made at the same time, but 

 not coated, the flavor was much better. 

 The cheese which was 3 months old or old- 

 er at the time of coating did not seem to be 

 injured in flavor. Some of the oldest 

 cheeses experimented on were covered with 

 a double bandage and then part of the 

 cheese was covered with a layer of paraffin. 

 On standing, a growth of mold covered 

 the cheese under the outer bandage of the 

 portion not treated with paraffin. The 

 paraffin was found to be in large measure 

 a protection. When so treated, the outer 

 bandage can be stripped off leaving that 

 portion fairly free from mold. 



The colored paraffin, at the time of these 

 tests, cost 7 cents a pound. Three pounds 

 were sufficient for coating 30 10-pound 

 cheeses. The cost of the paraffin coating 

 per cheese was, therefore, 0.7 of a cent. 

 The larger cheeses would cost less in pro- 

 portion. Unless the paraffin is kept suf- 

 ficiently hot, it does not flow readily, and 

 the coating will consequently be thicker. 

 This, of course, increases the cost. 



ADULTERATED FOODS IN MASSACHU- 

 SETTS. 



As noted in the last annual report of the 

 Massachusetts State Board of Health on 

 food and drug inspection, a number of the 

 products examined were found to be adul- 

 terated or sophisticated. Some of the 

 statements made are of more than local in- 

 terest, as they indicate the extent to which 

 the adulteration of certain classes of 

 goods is practiced. If such adulteration is 

 found in the State of Massachusetts where 

 food laws are in operation, it seems not 

 improbable that more extensive adultera- 

 tion may be found where there are no lo- 

 cal restrictions. Some of the statements 

 made in the report were in effect as fol- 

 lows. 



