ly
canned meats should be stored at a low temperature. By recent
congressional act, these preparations are now made under the
supervision of government inspectors. All diseased animals are
rejected, and the sanitary conditions under which the meat is prepared
have been greatly improved. Formerly, the most frequent forms of
adulteration were substitution of one meat for another, as the mixing of
veal with chicken, and the use of preservatives, as borax and sulphites.
While the cost of the nutrients in canned meats is generally much higher
than in fresh meats, the latter are not always easily obtained, or
capable of being kept for any length of time, and hence canned meats are
often indispensable.

CHAPTER IX

CEREALS

143. Preparation and Cost of Cereals.--The grains used in the
preparation of cereal foods are wheat, oats, corn, rice, and, to a less
extent, barley and rye. For some of these the entire cleaned grain is
ground or pulverized, while for others the bran and germ are first
removed. In order to improve their keeping qualities, they are often
sterilized before being put up in sealed packages. Special treatment, as
steaming or malting, is sometimes given to impart palatability and to
lessen the time required for cooking. As a class, the cereal foods are
clean, nutritious, and free from adulteration. Extravagant claims are
sometimes made as to their food value, and frequently excessive prices
are charged, out of proportion to the cost of the nutrients in the raw
material. Within recent years the number of cereal preparations has
greatly increased, due to improvements and variations in the methods of
manufacture.[56]

Cereal foods are less expensive than meats and the various animal food
products. They contain no refuse, are easily prepared for the table, and
may be kept without appreciable deterioration. Some of the
ready--to-eat brands are cooked, dried, and crushed, and sugar,
glucose, salt, and various condimental materials added to impart taste.
Others contain malt, or are subjected to a malting or germinating
process to develop the soluble carbohydrates, and such foods are
sometimes called predigested. It is believed that the cereals are being
more extensively used in the dietary, which is desirable both from an
economic and a nutritive point of view. Special care is necessary in the
cooking and preparation of cereals for the table, in order to develop
flavor and bring about hydration and ruptur