THE QUANTITY OF BUTTER FAT IN ICE CREAM.

The data which have been cited indicate that there is no tendency in the trade to secure any uniform quantity or standard of butter fat in ice creams. The authorities show that an ice cream may have from a mere trace of butter fat up to 17 or 20 per cent. The consumer, therefore, has no indication in buying a so-called ice cream of the quantity of cream or butter fat which he is about to secure, nor would a physician in ordering ice cream for a patient have any information of the character of the food that the patient was going to eat; assuming that he is getting a genuine ice cream he may be giving an invalid a lot of wholly indigestible materials which his stomach in its weakened condition would be utterly unable to digest.

The claim that the manufacture of genuine ice cream will make it too expensive for common use does not seem to be based on any reliable data. That real cream sells for more than an imitation and that . it should sell for more no one will deny. If a man buys two volumes of a mixture containing 8 per cent of butter fat as ice cream he may pay no more for it than a man who buys one volume of a real ice cream. The answer to the question of increased cost would very properly be diminished volume. It would surely be advantageous to the consumer if he put into his stomach a less volume of the frozen mixture than he usually does when he buys an ice cream of commerce in which water is the chief constituent.

The claim that the dairies of the country would be unable to furnish cream for making genuine ice cream is wholly unfounded. The dairies of the country are interested as well as the sanitarians in having ice cream pure and true to the name. They will be able to supply the legitimate demand for the cream of which the article is made.

The protests against the standard for butter fat fixed by the Secretary of Agriculture under authority of Congress, in so far as the briefs and arguments which have been offered are concerned seem to be wholly without merit. The same protests were made against fixing a legal standard of fat in milk, against the elimination of the quantity of water in butter, against the requirements for purity of almost every food product. Whenever an attempt is made to fix a standard of purity for a food product all the people who are engaged in making a debased article of that kind enter the same kind of a plea. There seems to be no basis for a protest of this kind. There is no ethical or legal reason why the purchaser of ice cream should not have some definite idea of what he is getting. The conditions which obtained before the passage of the food and drugs act can not be urged in extenuation of their continuance under the pure

food act. If this were so there would not be a single abuse which the pure-food law was intended to remedy which would not be continued. Granted for the moment, as is shown by the data cited, that the term ice cream before the enactment of the food law and the establishment of the standard did not mean anything. Let it be accorded that it meant any kind of mixture simulating cream which the compounder saw fit to make, provided it was sweet enough and flavored enough to find a purchaser. These facts do not alter the relations of the ice cream to the consumer under the food and drugs act and the standards made in harmony with the act of Congress. It is evident that under that act every name of a food product was intended to represent a certain kind of product and this kind of product is defined and established by the standard. Therefore the protests against the standard as being too high and oppressive to the consumer and impossible of observation by the manufacturer have no basis of fact on which to stand.

A careful study of all the evidence which has been submitted and of the authorities leads to the conclusion that ice cream should be made of cream, that no other ingredient should be used except the sugar and the flavor or fruit, that it should contain not less than 14 per cent of butter fat where concentrated flavors are used and not less than 12 per cent where fruits are used, and with such a definition and standard each consumer will know exactly what he buys. and each manufacturer will know exactly what he shall make. If it be desirable to make other frozen puddings, custards, dainties, desserts, etc., at the will of the manufacturer, neither the law nor the standard raises any objections thereto, but these products should be delivered to the consumer under their proper names and not bear the name of a standard product on which the physician and the consumer both rely.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.

From a careful study of the data which have been collected it is evident the following conclusions may be drawn:

First. The sanitary conditions of many of the localities where ice cream is manufactured in the District of Columbia are not at all satisfactory. Radical improvements in such localities are necessary to secure purity and freedom from contamination. It is a recognized fact that many cases of violent poisoning which arise from eating cream or ice cream are due to insanitary conditions surrounding the dairy or ice cream factory, the storage for an improper length of time of these products, and the contamination which they suffer by reason of insanitary conditions by infection from preexisting poisonous bodies. The development of ptomaine poisoning in cream and ice

cream is entirely prevented by using a fresh sanitary raw product, manufacturing it in perfectly clean surroundings, and disposing of it within a reasonable length of time after manufacture.

Second. The average percentage of fat in the cream sold commercially in the District of Columbia is slightly less than that required by the statute governing the sale of cream in the District of Columbia. It is, however, well within the standard established for cream in general by the Secretary of Agriculture. As long as the Act of Congress relating to the standard of cream in the District of Columbia is on the statute books the dealers should comply with its provisions and cream containing less than 20 per cent of butter fat should not be sold in the District.

Third. The bacteriological examination of cream and ice cream in the District of Columbia shows that much of it contains a number of bacteria which is far in excess of that which should be found in pure uncontaminated fresh materials. This enormous bacterial flora is due to two causes, namely, insanitary conditions of the dairy and factory, and long keeping of the product. From this point of view, therefore, a very large percentage of both cream and ice cream sold in the District of Columbia is highly objectionable.

In regard to its content of butter fat the ice cream sold in the District of Columbia over the period of time mentioned is fairly satisfactory. A very large percentage of all the samples contained more than the 14 per cent of butter fat required for the vanilla type of ice cream and more than 12 per cent of the butter fat required for the fruit type. The establishment of these standards is not subversive to commercial conditions as they existed at the time examinations were made.. These standards will, therefore, be regarded not only as reasonable, but as commercially practicable.

Fourth. The use of thickeners in the production of ice cream in the District of Columbia does not appear to be generally practiced. There are many objections to the use of thickeners, the chief of which is that it enables an ice cream to be kept a longer period than it should be. A confection of the character of ice cream is intended for immediate consumption and not for cold storage or long keeping. The ice cream industry is essentially a local industry throughout the country and there is no commercial necessity of transporting ice cream for long distances nor of storing it on board ship, or in other localities for a great length of time. The sooner ice cream can be consumed after it is made the better. Another objection to the thickener is that it aids in the expansion of the volume of cream to proportions entirely beyond the actual amount of nourishment represented; so that, as has been shown in the evidence, from one quart of material two quarts of the product may be produced. Inas

much as ice cream is sold quite exclusively by volume and not by weight, this expansion can only be regarded as a deception practiced upon the consumer. The use of thickeners of any kind in the manufacture of ice cream is not a commercial necessity. When used the thickener should be wholesome and unobjectionable from a food point of view, and the fact that it has been employed should be plainly stated on the label.

Fifth. The manufacture of frozen dainties containing more or less cream is a legitimate industry, provided all the materials used are pure and wholesome and no false name or appellation is given to the product. A great many products which have been made and sold as ice cream belong to this category. Inasmuch as ice cream is prescribed frequently by physicians for invalids and convalescents, and inasmuch as it is largely eaten by children and others whose stomachs have not full vigor, a definite idea of its composition is necessary to prevent injury and abuse. Hence the term ice cream should be reserved solely for the frozen product consisting of pure, fresh cream, sugar, and a flavor, while appropriate names should be given to other frozen dainties in which more or less cream may enter. The use of milk, skimmed milk, and condensed milk in the manufacture of ice cream does not appear to be advisable or necessary. These substances, when wholesome and pure, are food products of value and their use under appropriate appellations is unobjectionable. Condensed milk diluted to its original volume would not be allowed to be sold as fresh milk under the laws of any of the States or municipalities controlling the milk supply. There seems to be no ethical reason why such products should be permitted to be sold under the name of ice cream. They should be offered to the public under appellations which disclose their real character.

Sixth. The additional regulations which would secure for the District of Columbia a supply of ice cream of unobjectionable quality should look to the restrictions of the materials used to the pure fresh articles. They should require that the butter fat should have a definite percentage corresponding to the established standards of 12 and 14 per cent respectively for the two different types of ice cream. They should protect the consumer against an undue expansion of the ice cream during the process of manufacture so as to make it occupy a volume far larger than is normal. They should restrict the time of storage of ice cream to the limit of ordinary needs of consumption. They should secure absolute cleanliness and neatness in the dairy and in the factory where the ice cream is made. They should exclude from ice cream colors not authorized to be put in foods by the rules and regulations of the food and drugs act. They should exclude from sale ice cream containing a bacterial flora of the enormous proportions

exhibited by some of the samples which have been examined. By the adoption of these sanitary regulations an ice cream of standard quality can be offered to the consumers of the District of Columbia, so that anyone purchasing the article may know definitely the character of the material he is buying, the amount which he gets, and may be assured of the freshness and purity of its raw materials and freedom from infection during process of manufacture and the time it is kept in storage.

TABLE III. Chemical, microscopical, and bacteriological examinations of cream from January 30, 1907, to June 12, 1907.