is the one very commonly used, and it will probably continue to be so used, by most manufacturers until national and state laws or an enlightened public opinion eliminate it from food products.
Pie Fillers.—Nearly allied to mince meat in its character is a large class of substances known as pie fillers. Mince meat itself, as may be seen from the description which has been given of it, is nothing but a pie filler of a particular kind. Unfortunately the demand of the domestic cuisine is for substances prepared, or partially prepared, for immediate consumption. In this way the demand for predigested and precooked food has become a very general one and the pie filler is a legitimate effort on the part of the manufacturers to meet this growing demand. It is far easier for domestic purposes to make a pie of an already prepared material than to go to the trouble of constructing the material in the kitchen. A housewife loses sight of the fact that the fresh domestic pie is probably the only one which, for sanitary and other reasons, should be admitted to the table. As the pie fillers are as varied in character as the different kinds of pies from which they are made, no definite standard can be prescribed for them. Fruits are, naturally, the predominating constituent in these fillers and the condiments and spices used are certainly unobjectionable. If it be possible to prepare spiced fruits and keep them until used for pies there would seem to be no objection to the manufacture, long before using, of these substance in large quantities. The difficulty, however, of preserving the freshness and aroma of a fruit or other substance used for pie making is so evident as to need no particular emphasis.
Adulteration of Pie Fillers.—The common adulterations in pie fillers are artificial colors, when they are designed to represent fruit of a special character, and preservatives. The same remarks which were made respecting these bodies in mince meat apply with equal force to all kinds of pie fillers. Bodies of this kind are evidently only properly made on the premises where they are consumed and immediately used after manufacture. The addition of artificial colors and preservatives in such substances, while apparently necessary in the present condition of trade, is wholly objectionable from every other point of view, and in such case trade conditions should properly give way to the demands of public and private sanitation and hygiene.
