PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 169 



AFTERI^OO]^ SESSIOJSr-FOURTH DAY. 



Friday, December 6, 1901. 

 The Convention met, as per adjournment, at 1:30 o'clock p. m. 

 President Cooper in the chair. 



FOOD ADULTEEATION. 



By prof. M. E. JAFFA, of the University of California. 



The subject of this afternoon's discussion is one that should be inter- 

 esting to all people, not only from the purely educational standpoint, 

 but on account of its practical application to our every-day life. We 

 are all more or less affected by food adulterations, and, whether we 

 know it or not, are to a greater or less degree the victims of fraudulent 

 practices. There have been efforts made by the governments of all 

 countries to limit, if not to wholly eradicate, this evil. But until the 

 people themselves really desire and demand pure food, the government 

 alone can do comparatively little. Laws may be enacted, but they will 

 not be enforced, unless there is some degree of interest taken in them by 

 the people at large. Food laboratories may be established as they are 

 at present, and experts paid to examine foods, but ninety per cent of 

 the people will go on in the same old way, utterly regardless of the 

 investigations, continuing to buy articles condemned by these experts, 

 when a better and purer substance may perhaps be had at the same 

 dealers for the same price. And it is partly with the object of making 

 a plea for the establishment and maintenance of well-equipped food 

 laboratories and for their hearty support by the public that this paper 

 is presented here to-day. The question of food upon which we all 

 depend for our lives, to say nothing of our health and strength, is too 

 important a matter for any one to neglect. And every good citizen 

 should acquaint himself, as fully as possible, with this subject, so as to 

 assist, so far as lies in his power, in the passage of such laws as will 

 insure the utmost honesty in the handling of our foods. 



The adulteration of foods is not of modern origin. We have evidence 

 of such practices among the ancient Greeks and Romans. In Rome, 

 bread was sometimes made from flour mixed with a white earth. The 

 adulteration of wine in Athens necessitated the appointment of a 

 special inspector, whose duty it was to detect and stop these sophistica- 

 tions. Greek history has handed down the name of Canthare, who 



