LIBRARY M 72 7^ liUcnutional Health Exhibition^ LONDON, 1884. ADULTERATION OF FOOD. CONFERENCES BY THE INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTR Y ON MONDAY and TUESDAY, JULY 14th and 15///. FOOD ADULTERATION AND ANALYSIS PRrj^TED AND FTJBT TSHED FOR THE €m\\^\\it Council of tlj^ |itternatioiuil Imlllj Cviyibltiait, aitb for tlje Council of tjje Society of BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS. Limited. INTERNATIONAL HEALTH EXHIBITION, AND 13, CHARING CROSS, S.VV. 1884. LOXIJOX. L PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD SIREET ALU CHARING CROSS. International Health Rxhibition, LONDON, 1884. INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY. Conference on Monday, July 14, 1884. Professor W. Odling, M.A., F.R.S., President of the Institute, in the Chair. The Chairman said the Executive Council of the Exhi- bition had invited the Institute of Chemistry to hold a conference on the very important subject of the adultera- tion of food, and the modes of analysing it, and he hoped that having before them a subject of this kind, to which so much attention had been paid by so many eminently qualified, a discussion of considerable interest must arise, and that some good in the way of increase of knowledge and increase of agreement as to the points desirable to attain in future must be arrived at. FOOD ADULTERATION AND ANALYSIS. By Dr. JAMES BeLL, F.R.S. Adulteration, in its widest sense, may be described as the act of debasing articles for pecuniary profit by inten- tionally adding thereto an inferior substance, or by taking therefrom some valuable constituent ; and it may also be said to include the falsification of inferior articles by im- [C. 8.] B 2 Food Adulteration and Analysis. parting to them the known appearance of commodities of superior quality. The evils of adulteration may be viewed either from a sanitary, moral, or pecuniary standpoint, and it is no doubt chiefly in its relation to the health of the people that the subject of Food Adulteration and Analysis has been chosen for a Conference in connection with this Exhibition. Of the sanitary evils of the adulteration of food there cannot be the faintest doubt, and even on this ground alone the practice merits the severest condemnation. This is the case when the substance added merely reduces the nutritive value or characteristic property of the food, but the offence becomes highly criminal when the adulterant also possesses properties injurious to health. The moral aspect of this question should never be lost sight of No man can continuously practise deception without losing self-respect, and, also, when detected and exposed, the respect of his fellow-citizens. Moreover, in such circumstances, a feeling of uncertainty on the part of the buyer is created, and his first idea on the receipt of a commodity of somewhat lower quality than usual is that it must be adulterated. The honest vendor thus shares with the dishonest one the general penalty of suspicion, and the transactions of nearly all dealers in articles of food are viewed with distrust. the question But it is from the pecuniary standpoint that primary is most often viewed by the general public, for the cause of adulteration is a desire for unjust gain to be ob- tained, either at the expense of consumers, or by taking unfair advantage of competitors in trade. If the adulterated article is sold at the ordinary price of the genuine commodity, the consumer is robbed of the value whereas, if it amount represented by the diminished ; be sold as genuine, though at a proportionate reduction in price, the unfair competition tends either to seriously injure their honestly-disposed rivals in trade, or, what is but too often the case, to drive them into a similar course. At- tempts have sometimes been made to estimate roughly the Food Adulteration and Analysis. amount of pecuniary loss suffered by consumers owing to the adulteration of different articles of food, but, for my part, I have never been able to see that any reliable data were obtainable upon which to form even the rudest ap- proximate estimate. The practice of adulteration is by no means of modern date, but has existed, more or less, from time immemorial. There is evidence that it was practised by the Greeks and Romans, and it has probably been co-existent with the development of commerce. The earliest enactments in this country in reference to food appear to have had a much wider scope than those of recent years, for they embraced the quality as well as the genuineness of the article, and dealers in foods or drinks which, from whatever cause, were considered as unwholesome, were fined once or oftener, and then, if found incorrigible, were condemned to bodily punishment. The first enactment on the Statute Book is the 56 Henry III., cap. passed in 6, 1266. Under this and subsequent statutes or "Assizes," the baker was to be punished if he sold bread light in weight, or made from unsound wheat, or at too high a price in relation to that of wheat ; the brewer if he was not sufficiently liberal with his malt in proportion to the price of barley ; the beer-retailer if he sold ale drugged or short in measure the ; vintner, if his wine was drugged, corrupted or unwholesome ; and the butcher, if he sold diseased meat. When we consider the difficulty which at the present time we experience even with increased knowledge and appliances in suppressing adulteration, it is not to be wondered at that the machinery of those days failed to put an end to the evils complained of With the exception of one or two Acts relating to the adulteration of bread, all the legislation upon articles of food from the time of George I. to the year i860, had reference to the protection of the revenue, and therefore only mdirectly guarded the health or pocket of the con- sumer. The Acts within this period related principally to B 2 4 Food Adulteration and Analysis. and, if we are to place any tea, coffee, beer and porter ; reliance upon the words of an Act of Parliament, the adulteration of tea a hundred years ago must have attained very alarming proportions. The Act, 17 Geo. III., cap. 11, of states that great quantities of sloe leaves, and leaves ash, elder, and other trees and shrubs were then being manufactured and sold in imitation of tea, to the injury and destruction of great quantities of timber, woods, and underwoods. agitation In the year 185 1 there was considerable amongst planters and others interested in the production the and sale of coffee, in consequence of the falling off in consumption of that article caused by its wholesale admix- Peti- ture, as permitted by Treasury Minute, with chicory. the tions were presented to both Houses of Parliament on attention directed subject, and it was perhaps the general proprietors of at that time to this matter which induced the the Lancet to perform a public service of the highest value. years, at their own expense, In 1 85 1 and several following they instituted an extensive inquiry into the character of drugs sold in London, and engaged . the food, drink, and chemical and microscopical analysts for that purpose. The alarming results showed that adulteration prevailed to an of a extent, and that in many cases the adulterants were nature highly injurious to health. The Editor of the Lancet pub- showed his confidence in the analysts employed by whether lishing in that journal the results of the analyses, favourable or otherwise, together with the name and ad- thus dress of the vendor. The increased public attention the caused, resulted in an inquiry by a Select Committee of House of Commons, in 1855, which reported that adultera- prevalent, and that tion of food, drink, and drugs was very poisonous nature. some of the adulterants used were of a Following upon that report, and as a consequence thereof, country was passed in the year the first general Act in this to some extent a i860. This Act may have exercised of it deterrent effect, but beyond this the practical outcome was but small, for the appointment of analysts was permis- Food Adulteration and Analysis. 5 sive, and the obtaining of samples for analysis was left to private purchasers. Another Act was passed in 1872, ex- tending the right of appointing analysts to boroughs having separate police establishments, but still left such appoint- ments optional. A most important provision, however, was made for the purchase of samples by local officials, and the right was given to private purchasers to have samples analysed on payment of a small fee. The adoption of the Acts of i860 and 1872 was by no means general, but was principally confined to London and the large towns ; and even where adopted, the action taken was often of a very restricted character. The prosecutions which ensued, however, were sufficiently numerous to cause a general outcry from tradesmen about alleged miscarriages of justice ; and in answer to petitions from most of the large towns, the Government decided to appoint another Select Committee of the House of Commons to enquire into the working of these Acts. This Committee reported that while the Acts had done much good, they had likewise done considerable injury, as many heavy and undeserved penalties had been inflicted upon respectable tradesmen, and that such injury had arisen partly from the want of a clear understanding as to what constitutes adulteration, and partly from the conflicting opinions and inexperience of the analysts employed, some of whom appeared to have evinced a great want of discretion.