
COMPOSITION OF AMERICAN FOOD MATERIALS. IOI 
being carried on in different parts of the country. Of the 
remaining 800, or thereabouts, by far the larger number were 
made by the Division of Chemistry of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. The extensive, varied, and important investiga- 
tions upon the composition and adulterations of food materials 
which have been carried out by that Division, especially under 
the direction of Prof. H. W. Wiley, are too well known to 
require comment. In these statements no reference is made 
to the analyses of unground cereal grains, very extensive 
investigations of which have been made by the Division of 
Chemistry. 
As the edition of the Bulletin of the Department of Agricul- 
ture above referred to is so limited as to make it accessible to 
comparatively few persons, and frequent requests come to the 
Station for information regarding the composition of food 
materials, the average composition of not far from 175 of some 
of the more common kinds is given in table 60. These figures 
are for the most part the same or nearly the same as those of 
the Bulletin 28 of the Office of Experiment Stations above 
referred to, the differences being only such as are called for by 
analyses which have accumulated since that Bulletin was com- 
piled. Concerning the figures in this table, two remarks are 
called for: 
1. ‘The figures represent averages of analyses. Oftentimes 
different specimens of the same food will differ considerably in 
composition. This is particularly the case with meats and 
milk. Most kinds of vegetable foods are more nearly uniform 
in composition. 
2. It is important to distinguish between those materials 
which contain more or less refuse and those which are entirely 
edible. In the table the designations ‘‘edible portion’’ and 
‘as purchased”’ occur. The figures following the term “‘as 
purchased’’ represent the composition of the food material as 
ordinarily found in the markets. In the majority of foods, 
except dairy and cereal products, this includes more or less 
refuse as bone, shell, skin, or seeds. Where such inedible 
material, or refuse, occurs another average is given covering 
the composition of the ‘‘edible portion” after all refuse has 
been removed. Where the material as ordinarily purchased 
contains no refuse these terms are omitted. 
