Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food : together with minutes of evidence, appendices and index.
- Great Britain. Committee on Food Preservatives.
- Date:
- 1901
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food : together with minutes of evidence, appendices and index. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Nature of the colouring matters in use. Fisher, 4771. Cassal, 3847. Boseley, 1050. App. XIL., Table B. Smith, 4467-70. [ xviii ] II. COLOURING MATTERS. 56. With regard to artificial colouring matters it is worthy of note that the crude and gross sophistication of foods with mineral colouring matters known to be more or less poisonous (as, for example, lead chromate, vermilion, Scheele’s green, etc.), appears to be a thing of the past. Sulphate of copper is, however, still extensively used in the colouring of peas and other green vegetables. Out of 47 samples of preserved veget- ables examined in the Government: Laboratory, 17, or about 35 per cent., had been treated with sulphate of copper. Armenian bole (the colouring principle of which is red oxide of iron) is occasionally used for sausages, potted meats, anchovy and bloater pastes, sweets, etc., etc.; but this mineral matter, together with camwood and logwood, which were formerly used for a similar purpose, are now being superseded by the red coal-tar colours referred to below. Armenian bole was found in only 6 out of 279 samples of preserved meats, ete., examined in the Government Laboratory. Mr. Fisher found it in anchovy and bloater pastes (4 samples out of 6), and Mr. Cassal in sweets. Graphite, used to face and “improve” the colour of peppercorns, occurred in two samples examined in the Government Laboratory. 57. The most commonly used colouring matter for dairy produce is annatto, a vegetable extract from 22a orellana. This, and certain other yellow colouring matters of vegetable origin (as turmeric, saffron, etc.) have generally been considered harmless in the quantities employed, but they are gradually being superseded by coal-tar yellows, the action of which upon the human system is not fully known. Butter from Holland, Australia, and the United States is very fre- quently coloured with coal-tar yellows. A large number of margarines are also so coloured. The coal-tar yellow most frequently employed for dairy produce and margarine is known commercially as ‘“ butter-yellow,” its chemical title being ‘“‘dimethyl-amido-azo-benzene.” Tropceolins, which are sulphonated-azo derivatives from coal-tar, are also coming into use. ‘“‘Butter-yellow” is generally supplied to the trade ready dissolved in oil, either cotton-seed, rape, linseed, or sesame oil. 58. Mr. T. Carrington Smith, representing the Central Chamber of Agriculture, gave the name of thirteen brands of colourmg matters mentioned in 110 replies to a circular addressed to dairy farmers and traders. Of these, “annatto” was said to be used in 42 instances, but the colour basis of many of the other colours mentioned (which are identical with some of those examined in the Government Laboratory) was also annatto, though sold under a fanciful name. In two cases the colouring material was carrot juice. 59. The colours to be obtained from coal-tar are practically unlimited in variety, and their tinctorial power isso great that very small quantities suffice to produce the required tint. They are consequently coming into increasing favour to replace the red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and violet colours required for jams, temperance drinks, sweets, and confectionery. 60. The great majority of the coal-tar dyes used for colouring foods belong | to the “azo” class, and are usually sulphonated when required to be used in a form soluble in water. A mixture of an “azo” red and a brown allied to Bismarck brown is used for imitating the smoke colour of hams. Other coal-tar colours which have been identified in the Government Laboratory were “ Ponceau red,” and “citron orange” in temperance beve- rages; “crocein orange,” “citron orange,” “auramin,” “rose pink,” and “fuchsin,” in fruit, jellies, and jams; ‘Congo red,” “fuchsin,” and various sulphonated azo-reds in sausages (in the meat itself in some cases, but on the outer skin only in the case of poloneys); acid-yellow (mixed with 3ismarck brown in some cases) for colouring sugar crystals ; the object being](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3217228x_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
