USE OF POTATOES FOR CEREALS.

The use of potatoes in bread making is very extensively practiced in Europe, and is not unknown in this country. The result of mixing potatoes with flour in bread making is an increase of the carbohydrates and a decrease of the protein matter in the loaf. There is no objection to the use of potatoes in bread making, from a hygienic point of view, provided the amount of admixture is not sufficient to make too wide a nutritive ratio. The natural proportions of protein matter and carbohydrates in cereals are evidently best adapted to the nourishment of man, and any wide departure from that ratio, either in the one case in increasing the amount of gluten, as in gluten breads, or in the other by diminishing the amount thereof, as in the case of potatoes, should be avoided. In this country the use of potatoes in bread making is largely practiced in private families where the bread is prepared for home use. In many parts of the country it is quite a constant custom to mix a portion of potatoes with the flour, as it is thereby supposed that a better bread can be secured. This idea, however, is probably erroneous. The chief object of admixing the potatoes with the bread is to prevent a too rapid drying of the loaf. The drying of the loaf, however, can be very effectively prevented by proper baking, inclosing the moist interior with a practically impervious crust.

From a financial point of view, the admixture of potatoes with wheat flour in bread making is remunerative only when the price of the potato starch, as compared with that of the same amount of the material in cereals, is less. While this character of adulteration, as has been said, is not prejudicial to health, it should not be practiced by bakers and others who sell loaves without informing the purchasers of the character and extent of the admixture. It would probably be very difficult to detect the presence of added potatoes in bread, provided the mixture of the dough was thoroughly accomplished and the baking was attended with a sufficiently high temperature to disintegrate the starch granules.

Moreover, before mixing the potatoes are boiled and reduced to a fine paste, whereby the structure of the starch granules is so disorganized as to make their detection by ordinary microscopic tests difficult and almost impossible. Bread showing an abnormally low percentage of proteid matter might be suspected of being mixed with potatoes, but it would be difficult, as indicated, to secure a convincing proof of this fact in the absence of the testimony of the baker himself.

MISTAKEN REPORTS AS TO MINERALS AND WOOD AS SUBSTITUTES.

The use of chalk, terra alba, and other substances of like character in flour is, so far as my knowledge extends, never practiced in the United States. Instances are on record of such adulterations in foreign flours, but, as a rule, the price of cereals in this country is so low as to make it of little object to practice this form of adulteration. Of course, any admixture of these mineral substances could be detected in the ash of a flour. In a flour showing an excessively high content of ash it must always be supposed that some mineral substances are added. In the self-raising flours we know what these substances are. If, however, the analysis should reveal the presence of a large quantity of ash not due to the ingredients usually employed in the preparation of leavening agents, it might be worth while to examine further in regard to the character of the added material. It is evident, however, that the percentage of such material which would render its use as an adulterant profitable would be so great as at once to be revealed upon a simple ignition. In the examination of hundreds of flours in the laboratory of this division no instance of such an adulteration has ever been noted, and, in common with its companion myth of sand in the sugar, it may be relegated to the domain of fable.

In the same category may be placed the reports of admixing ground dry wood with flour and meal. Such an adulteration is reported in the Industrial American of May 15, 1892, copied from a newspaper of large circulation. It is stated that white beech wood, after the removal of the bark, is reduced to shavings, which are afterwards dried and ground and the powder thus secured employed for adulterating flour. The absurdity of such a statement is apparent, but unfortunately such reports are believed by a large number of credulous people.

The use of other materials as substitutes for cereal meals in bread making has been noted, but is not important in this connection.

TYPICAL AMERICAN FLOURS.

From a careful study of the data in the bulletin from which these extracts are taken it is possible to arrive at a correct idea of the composition of typical American flours of the classes indicated.

HIGH-GRADE PATENT FLOUR.

A high-grade American patent flour has approximately the following composition:

It is evident that the flours commonly placed upon the market in bulk in any given locality will vary in composition according to the composition of the wheat from which they are made and the kind of milling process by which they are produced. If the flours in any given locality are formed from the wheat of the neighborhood they would evidently partake of the character of those varieties of wheat. It is probable that as a whole the flours which are exposed for sale in a market like that of Washington will be representative of the flours of the whole country, as very little of the local supply comes from the wheat grown in the vicinity. The data obtained, therefore, from the analyses of a large number of samples bought in the open market may be relied upon as giving a fair indication of what a typical common market bulk flour is. The composition of such a typical flour, as indicated by the data, is approximately as follows:

The typical American flour which is sold under the name of bakers' flour, and which, as a rule, is regarded as somewhat inferior to the high-grade patent flours, has a composition which, as determined by the foregoing analyses, is approximately represented by the following numbers:

Again, we are struck here with the practically identical composition of the bakers' flour with the high-grade patent flours. The chief differences are found in the fact that the bakers' flours are drier, containing about 1 per cent less moisture. They have, too, a distinctly higher percentage of proteids as compared with the high-grade flours, due to the fact, doubtless, that large quantities of the outer part of the kernels enter into the composition of these flours. The quantities of gluten are more than correspondingly increased, which indicates that the glutinous part of the proteids tends to accumulate in flours of this character, and this is due to the nature of the milling process and to the separation of the various parts of the wheat kernel. The quantity of oil is also higher than in the high-grade flours, showing a less perfect degermination of the grain during the milling process. The ash is also slightly higher than in the highgrade flours, while the carbohydrates are somewhat lower, due to the higher percentage of proteids.

In a general comparison of bakers' flours with high-grade patent flours it is seen that the nutritive ratio is much narrower in the bakers' flour, and the percentage of proteids higher. Judged by the common theories of nutrition, therefore, the bakers' flour would make a bread better suited to the laboring man, while the high-grade patent flours would form bread with a greater tendency to produce fat and animal heat.

TYPICAL FLOUR OF CLASS 4.

In class 4 wheat flours have been collected of the miscellaneous samples which were not capable of classification, by reason of their names or descriptions, with the three preceding grades of flours. These flours doubtless represent the product of small mills, and are derived from the most diversified sources. As would be expected, they show among themselves a considerable degree of variation, although the mean composition does not differ very greatly from that of the previously described grades. The typical flour of this miscellaneous class, judged by the data which have been obtained, has the following approximate composition:

Water

Proteids (factor 6.25)

Proteids (factor 5.70)

Moist gluten__.

Dry gluten

Ether extract_

Ash___

Carbohydrates (factor 6.25)
Carbohydrates (factor 5.70).

Per cent.

12.85

10.30

9.35

26. 80

10. 20 1.05

.50 75.30

76. 25

The important feature of such a typical flour is its almost exact identity, from a commercial point of view, with the high-grade patent flours. The averages of the two classes are so nearly alike that they could be interchanged with each other with no appreciable modification of chemical composition. This fact emphasizes in a most marked degree the points which have been brought out in the previous discussions, viz, that the commercial value of flour depends almost exclusively upon the nature of the milling process and upon the color and general appearance of the flour, and has little or nothing to do with nutritive properties.

TYPICAL SELF-RAISING FLOURS.

The small importance, from a commercial point of view, of a self-raising flour gives little encouragement for the endeavor to establish a typical standard for this class of nutrients. It is evident without discussion that the selfraising properties of a flour are due to the incorporation therewith of some of the ordinary chemical leavening agents which are commonly used. In other words, by mixing with the flour an ordinary baking powder, or the essential leavening constituents thereof, the so-called self-raising flour is produced. This flour, it is evidently intended, should be used immediately for bread making without being subjected to any previous fermentation.

Only a few samples of self-raising flours have been examined. A typical self-raising flour, representing nearly the mean of the samples examined, has the following composition:

As was to be expected, the chief variation of a self-raising flour from a typical flour of the other grades described is found in the percentage of ash which it contains. This percentage of ash arises from the mineral residue of the leavening agents added for the purpose of securing the raising of the loaf when the flour is mixed for bread making. Since the normal ash constituent of a flour is about 0.5 per cent, it is seen that there are added to the flour for leavening purposes about 3.5 per cent of mineral matters. The manifest unfitness of flours of this kind for general baking purposes will prevent a very wide commercial use of such articles. If chemical leavening agents are to be used, it is undoubtedly the better plan to mix them with the flour at the time of baking rather than to sell them in an already mixed condition.

APPENDIX II.

THE PRESENT FOOD AND DRUGS ACT WITH THE AMENDMENTS PROPOSED BY THE RAINEY BILL INSERTED.

The proposed amendments are printed in italic.

[The food and drugs act, June 30, 1906, as amended Aug. 23, 1912, as amended Mar. 3, 1913.]

AN ACT For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture within any Territory or the District of Columbia an article of food or drug which is adulterated or misbranded, within the meaning of this Act; and any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each offense shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $500 or shall be sentenced to one year's imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court, and for each subsequent offense and conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $1,000 or sentenced to one year's imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 2. That the introduction into any State or Territory or the District of Columbia from any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or from any foreign country, or shipment to any foreign country of any article of food or drugs which is adulterated or misbranded, within the meaning of this act, is hereby prohibited; and any person who shall ship or deliver for shipment from any State or Territory or the District of Columbia to any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or to a foreign country, or who shall receive in any State or Territory or the District of Columbia from any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or foreign country, and having so received, shall deliver, in original unbroken packages, for pay or otherwise, or offer to deliver to any other person any such article so adulterated or misbranded, within the meaning of this act, or any person who shall sell or offer for sale in the District of Columbia or the Territories of the United States any such adulterated or misbranded foods or drugs, or export or offer to export the same to any foreign country, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for such offense be fined not exceeding $200 for the first offense, and, upon conviction for each subsequent offense not exceeding $300 and be imprisoned not exceeding

one year, or both, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That no article shall be deemed misbranded or adulterated, within the provisions of this act, when intended for export to any foreign country and prepared or packed according to the specifications or directions of the foreign purchaser when no substance is used in the preparation or packing thereof in conflict with the laws of the foreign country to which said article is intended to be shipped; but if said article shall be in fact sold or offered for sale for domestic use or consumption, then this proviso shall not exempt said article from the operation of any of the other provisions of this act:

Provided further, That the words "mixed flour" shall be taken and construed. to mean a food product resulting from the grinding or mixing together of wheat or wheat flour with any other grain or with the product of any other grain, whether the same contains a leavening agent or not; and when the same is intended for export or is shipped or delivered for shipment to a foreign country, the same shall in all respects comply with subdivision Third A of section 8 of this act in the case of food.

SEC. 7. That for the purposes of this act an article shall be deemed to be adulterated:

First. If any substance has been mixed and packed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength.

Second. If any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the article.

Third. If any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.

Fourth. If it be mixed, colored, powdered, coated, or stained in a manner whereby damage or inferiority is concealed.

Fifth. If it contain any added poisonous or other added deleterious ingredient which may render such article injurious to health: Provided, That when in the preparation of food products for shipment they are preserved by any external application applied in such manner that the preservative is necessarily removed mechanically, or by maceration in water, or otherwise, and directions for the removal of said preservative shall be printed on the covering or the package, the provisions of this act shall be construed as applying only when said products are ready for consumption.

Sixth. If it consists in whole or in part of a filthy, decomposed, or putrid animal or vegetable substance, or any portion of an animal unfit for food, whether manufactured or not, or if it is the product of a diseased animal, or one that has died otherwise than by slaughter.

SEC. 8. That the term "misbranded," as used herein, shall apply to all drugs or articles of food, or articles which enter into the composition of food, the package or label of which shall bear any statement, design, or device regarding such article, or the ingredients or substances contained therein which shall be false or misleading in any particular, and to any food or drug product which is falsely branded as to the State, Territory, or country in which it is manufactured or produced.

That for the purposes of this act an article shall also be deemed to be misbranded in the case of food

First. If it be an imitation of or offered for sale under the distinctive name of another article.

Second. If it be labeled or branded so as to deceive or mislead the purchaser, or purport to be a foreign product when not so, or if the contents of the package as originally put up shall have been removed in whole or in part and other contents shall have been placed in such package, or if it fail to bear a statement on the label of the quantity or proportion of any morphine, opium, cocaine, heroin, alpha or beta eucaine, chloroform, cannabis indica, chloral hydrate, or acetanilide, or any derivative or preparation of any of such substances contained therein.

Third. If in package form, the quantity of the contents be not plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the package in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count: Provided, however, That reasonable variations shall be permitted, and tolerances and also exemptions as to small packages shall be established by rules and regulations made in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of this act.

Third A: If it be the product denominated "mired flour" in the second section of this act and the package containing it be not plainly, conspicuously,