foreign fats, making a product
known as filled cheese. When not labeled whole milk cheese, or sold as
such, there is no objection to skim-milk cheese. It has a high food
value and is often a cheap source of protein. The manufacture of filled
cheese is now regulated by the national government, and all such cheese
must pay a special tax and be properly labeled. As a result, the amount
of filled cheese upon the market has very greatly decreased, and cheese
is now less adulterated than in former years. The national dairy law
allows the use of coloring matter of a harmless nature in the
manufacture of cheese.

127. Dairy Products in the Dietary.--The nutrients in milk are
produced at less expense for grain and forage than the nutrients in
beef, hence from a pecuniary point of view, dairy products, as milk and
cheese, have the advantage. In the case of butter, however, the cost
usually exceeds that of meat. In older agricultural regions, where the
cost of beef production reaches the maximum, dairying is generally
resorted to, as it yields larger financial returns, and as a result more
cheese and less beef are used in the dietary. As the cost of meats is
enhanced, dairy products, as cheese, naturally take their place.

CHAPTER VIII

MEATS AND ANIMAL FOOD PRODUCTS

128. General Composition.--Animal tissue is composed of the same
classes of compounds as plant tissue. In each, water makes up a large
portion of the weight, and the dry matter is composed of nitrogenous and
non-nitrogenous compounds, and ash or mineral matter. Plants and animals
differ in composition not so much as to the kinds of compounds, although
there are differences, but more in the percentage amounts of these
compounds. In plants, with the exception of the legumes, the protein
rarely exceeds 14 per cent, and in many vegetable foods, when prepared
for the table, there is less than 2 per cent. In meats the protein
ranges from 15 to 20 per cent. The non-nitrogenous compounds of plants
are present mainly in the form of starch, sugar, and cellulose, while in
animal bodies there are only traces of carbohydrates, but large amounts
of fat. Fat is the chief non-nitrogenous compound of meats; it ranges
between quite wide limits, depending upon kind, age, and general
condition of the animal. Meats contain the same general classes of
proteins as the vegetable foods; in each the proteins are made up of
albumins, glubulins, albuminates, peptone-like bodies, and