Reports of the Lancet Analytical Sanitary Commission…

Reports of the Lancet Analytical Sanitary Commission have been regularly published for a period of nearly four years, the names and addresses of hundreds of manufactures and tradesmen selling adulterated articles being fearlessly given.

The responsibility incurred is immense, but the assertions of the journal are so well founded upon fact that they are universally accepted as accurately representing the appalling state of the food supply.

As instances may be cited, that of thirty-four samples of coffee only three were pure, chicory being present in thirty-one, roasted corn in twelve, beans and potato flour each in one; of thirty-four samples of chicory, fourteen were adulterated with corn, beans or acorns; of forty-nine samples of bread, every one contained alum; of fifty-six samples of cocoa, only eight were pure; of twenty-six milks, fourteen were adulterated; of twenty-eight cayenne peppers, only four were genuine, thirteen containing red-lead and one vermilion; of upwards of one hundred samples of colored sugar-confectionery, fifty-nine contained chromate of lead, eleven gamboge, twelve red-lead, six vermilion, nine arsenite of copper and four white-lead.

In consequence of the Lancet's disclosures, a parliamentary committee is appointed in 1855.