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What Consumers Should Know About
FOOD ADDITIVES
CHEMICALS IN FOODS — NOT NEW
The practice of adding "chemicals” to food is a very old one. No doubt it began when man first learned to preserve his meat by putting salt on it. Through the centuries other methods of food preservation were invented. During the early days of the industrial revolution in England and America there was much trial and error experimentation with materials used to preserve foods or to conceal inferiority by coloring them with dyes that were sometimes highly poisonous. Dr. Harvey Wiley’s battle for the original pure food law was to a large extent a fight against chemical preservatives such as boric acid, formaldehyde and salicylic acid. He dramatized the problem by his famous "Poison Squad” experiments, in which young men volunteers ate foods containing measured amounts of these chemicals, and then were observed for any detectable evidence of harm.
Viewed in perspective it can be seen that the Wiley era was also an era of technological progress. Certainly experimentation and research to improve the food supply did not stop with the passage of the first Federal Food and Drugs Act in 1906, as some people feared. In fact it accelerated, and today a great many chemical substances are being employed to make foods more attractive, better tasting, and more economical.
Inherited from the Wiley era is a too common misconception that all "chemicals” are harmful, and the related idea that any amount of a "poison” is harmful. The fact is, of course, that chemical additives, or food additives as they are now being called, have brought about great improvements in the American food supply. Additives like potassium iodide in salt and vitamins in enriched food products are making an important contribution to the health of our people, and yet it is a fact that both iodine and some of the vitamins would be harmful if consumed in excessive amounts. Many similar examples could be given to refute these common misconceptions.
----Small important thing consumers should learn about chemicals in food is not to be alarmed by the word "chemical.” To the chemist, foods themselves are made up of chemical compounds— fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and so forth.
FOOD CHEMISTRY AIDS PROGRESS
During the past half century the science of food chemistry has made tremendous progress. The growing, processing and packaging of food so that it can be transported for thousands of miles and remain in good condition for months or years, is one of the wonders of modern civilization.
On the label of a loaf of bread you have probably seen the words "Calcium and sodium propionate added to retard spoilage.” These are salts of propionic acid, which is produced naturally in Swiss cheese during its manufacture. The propionates have the ability of keeping bread from becoming moldy in the store or in your breadbox at home, which may easily happen, especially in warm weather.
Have you thought of the wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables available in your supermarket throughout the year? Some of them would not be there at all were it not for the sprays and dusts which growers now use to combat insects, weeds, and other pests and plant diseases.
Additives are used for a great many interesting and useful purposes. These will be discussed in greater detail later in this pamphlet. With the aid of food chemistry the commercial cook does many things that would be difficult or impossible in the home kitchen. Unnoticed by many of us, our food supply has been going through an industrial revolution.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
Agricultural Extension Service, Lafayette, Indiana
Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, State of Indiana, Purdue Univarsity and U. S. Department of Agriculture Cooperating. L. E. Hoffman, Director, Lafayette, Ind. Issued in furtherance of the Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914.