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Use  of  Preservatives  in  Foods. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1906. 
In  the  third  place,  the  old  and  well-known  process  of  curing  food 
products  or  preserving  them  by  condimental  substances  is  still  of 
great  value  and  always  will  be.  Not  only  are  foods  preserved  or 
cured  by  these  condimental  substances,  but  there  are  produced 
during  this  time  certain  flavors  or  aromas  which  render  these  foods 
of  high  value.  The  ripening  of  cheese  is  an  illustration  of  the 
changes  which  take  place  in  foods  during  the  curing  process;  the 
flavor  of  the  ham,  of  bacon  and  of  corned  beef  are  other  well  known 
illustrations.  Thus  the  curing  process  is  valuable  not  only  because 
the  condimental  substances  employed  are  incidentally  of  a  preserva- 
tive character,  but  because  some  of  the  natural  fermentations  which 
take  place  during  curing  are  not  inhibited  by  the  condimental  sub- 
stances, but  go  on  in  a  normal  way  to  produce  the  flavors  and  aromas 
which  make  such  cured  products  so  palatable  and  attractive. 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  there  are  at  the  service  of  man  wholly  un- 
objectionable and  even  useful  methods  of  preserving  food  products 
which  render  it  unnecessary  to  resort  to  that  method  of  preservation 
which  I  might  call  vi  et  armis,  which  is  the  one  resorted  to  by  the 
chemical  preservative  manufacturer. 
Another  very  grave  objection  to  the  use  of  chemical  preservatives 
is  in  the  fact  that  it  prompts  the  utilization  of  unsuitable,  partially 
decayed,  or  unripe  products,  or  the  refuse  of  factories  for  food  pro- 
ducts. It  was  developed  in  the  evidence  before  the  Interstate  and 
Foreign  Commerce  Committee  that  vast  quantities  of  tomato  pulp 
were  prepared  during  the  canning  season  and  kept  by  the  addition 
of  a  chemical  preservative  until  a  less  busy  season  permitted  their 
manufacture  into  catsups  and  similar  bodies.  Such  a  method  of 
procedure  is  always  a  great  temptation  to  utilize  the  poorest,  partly 
decayed,  or  refuse  matter  brought  to  the  factory  or  otherwise  left 
in  the  field,  and  this  temptation,  unfortunately,  is  not  always  resisted. 
When  in  addition  to  a  preservative  it  is  permitted  to  use  an  arti- 
ficial color  so  that  these  waste  products  can  be  made  to  imitate  the 
best  and  ripest  of  tomatoes,  the  deception  is  more  complete  and  the 
temptation  more  irresistible.  This  objection  to  the  use  of  preserva- 
tives is  well  stated  by  Dr.  Vaughan  in  his  testimony  before  the 
Senate  Committee,  February  28,  1900,  55th  Congress,  page  203. 
He  says,  in  speaking  of  a  preservative  : — 
"  In  the  first  place,  like  coloring  matter,  it  enables  a  man  to  sell 
a  poor  grade  article  in  place  of  a  better  grade;  in  the  second  place 
