Boric compounds as food preservatives

1926-06 1926 1920s 8 pages - 5 - (1) By Dr. Tunicliffe and Dr. Otto Rosenheim (see report of the Committee on Food Preservatives. 1901, Cd.833, pages 337-354.) These were experiments made on children for the British Government. (2) By Prof. Rost and his colleagues, for the Prussian Ministry of Hea...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Institution:MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Language:English
English
Published: June 1926
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10796/DB825C9E-3BF9-4A44-BBBB-8FD4A5D58391
http://hdl.handle.net/10796/BBE1EBE3-507E-4982-8526-F673628E77AB
_version_ 1771659906978414592
description 1926-06 1926 1920s 8 pages - 5 - (1) By Dr. Tunicliffe and Dr. Otto Rosenheim (see report of the Committee on Food Preservatives. 1901, Cd.833, pages 337-354.) These were experiments made on children for the British Government. (2) By Prof. Rost and his colleagues, for the Prussian Ministry of Health, 1902. (3) By Dr. Wiley. These were experiments made on healthy young Americans in 1904. Dr Tunnicliffe and Dr. Rosenheim found that :- (i) Both boric acid and borax were quickly eliminated, no cumulative action being therefore probable. (ii) Neither boric acid nor borax in any way affected the general health and well-being of the children. and the 1901 committee as a Whole expressed the opinion that :- "Compounds of boracic acid have not been proved to be more hurtful than saltpetre to the consumer, yet saltpetre has been used from time immemorial in curing bacon, etc. After very carefully weighing the evidence we have come to the conclusion that as regards the trade in fresh and cured meat, fish, butter, margarine, and other food substances in the consumption of which but small quantities of the antiseptic are taken into the system, there exists no sufficient reason for interfering to prevent the use of boron preservatives." Professor Rost's experiments showed that boric compounds were harmful. This research has been very severely criticised by the late Professor Liebreich and others, but nevertheless the German Government proceeded to forbid the use of boric preservatives. Dr. Wiley’s experiments could not be considered as conclusive, but nevertheless the United States Government have prohibited the use of boric compounds. Their use has also been prohibited in Sweden. The results of these experiments have been surveyed in the book by Thresh and Porter on "Preservatives in Food and Food Examination" 1906. We cannot say that the whole of them taken together give sufficient reliable evidence to form the conclusion that it is scientifically proved that the consumption of small amounts of boric compounds are harmful to the system. We are not 292/840/1/3
geographic UK
id HEA-1702_4057d172c52b42d18de774b61d8aa609
institution MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
is_hierarchy_title Boric compounds as food preservatives
language English
English
physical TEXT
publishDate June 1926
spellingShingle Trades Union Congress
Health, 1920-1960
Health care
Food ; Diet ; Nutrition
Boric compounds as food preservatives
title Boric compounds as food preservatives
topic Trades Union Congress
Health, 1920-1960
Health care
Food ; Diet ; Nutrition
url http://hdl.handle.net/10796/DB825C9E-3BF9-4A44-BBBB-8FD4A5D58391
http://hdl.handle.net/10796/BBE1EBE3-507E-4982-8526-F673628E77AB