IS SALICYLIC ACID AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE HARMFUL?
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Elsewhere1 in THE JOURNAL appears an abstract of an article by Drs. MacAlister and Bradshaw of Liverpool, on the effects of salicylic acid as a food preservative. Their conclusions are positive and, as they say, they speak with a due sense of responsibility. According to their views, salicylic acid, in the ways in which it is used in the preparation of food products, is not only not harmful, but is a preservative to health, inasmuch as the process of decomposition which it prevents would be far more dangerous. Their argument seems to be fairly well taken and their experiments reasonably conclusive. They show by their experiments that digestion in vitro is scarcely perceptibly hindered by saturated solutions of salicylic acid and that the effects of small quantities on the living subjects are practically negligible, according to their own personal experiences and observation and those of Kolbe, whom they quote. …
