812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 6, 2002
Scenes Behind Good Housekeeping Seal
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
NEW YORK. N.Y. For
more than 90 years, consumers
have purchased, with confidence,
items marked with the Good
Housekeeping Seal. The easily
recognized logo guarantees a
two-year warranty that the prod
uct has been evaluated and will
perform as claimed.
Recently a bus-load of con
sumer science teachers and seam
stresses from the Lancaster
Sharon Franke, director
and editor for food and ap
pliances, explains the pro
cess required for products
to carry the Good House
keeping Seal.
County area toured the Good
Housekeeping Institute to see
how products are tested by in
house experts and exactly what
happens behind the scenes of the
prestigious institute.
The Institute is housed on
three floors within the Hearst
Building, 959 Eighth Ave., New
York City. Many readers are fa
miliar with the Good Housekeep
ing Magazine, which began in
1885 and continues in popularity
winning a top 10 placing in
magazine ratings this year.
Sharon Franke, director and
editor for food and appliances,
said the magazine continues its
original purpose to provide good
advice to readers.
“What has changed is the ad
vice that people are looking for,”
Franke said of the Institute’s
long history in testing products.
When the magazine was estab-
After touring the Good Housekeeping Institute, the group members visited the famed
Carnegie Deli.
Good Housekeeping
The Good Housekeeping
Seal has earned the confi
dence of consumers since
1900.
lished in 1885, government regu
lations were not in place to con
trol outrageous advertising
claims. Later, many of the stan
dards the government set to regu
late products were those that
Good Housekeeping helped set.
This included establishing stan
dard countertop heights.
Every product that carries the
Good Housekeeping Seal has
been evaluated at the Institute.
Unlike Consumer Reports, the
Institute does not report on all
products. The Institute attempts
to cut through the clutter and re
port on a few of the best value
products for the average consum
er.
This does not necessarily mean
that the product is the best in the
field, but that the Institute is sat
isfied that the product meets ad
vertising claims and that it is af
fordable and offers a best value
for the average consumer.
The Institute does not neces
sarily make public the results of
products that do not meet adver
tising standards unless it is an ob
vious rip-off or danger to con
sumers.
A case in point are the adver
tising claims of some foods
touted as low-calorie foods,
which when tested sometimes
contain three times the amount
of fat and many more calories
than labeled.
The Institute is working on es
tablishing crib sheet standards
since those tested come in many
different sizes. Poor fitting sheets
can come loose and entangle ba
bies, and have resulted in a baby
strangling to death while moving
around when sleeping.
Last year, the Institute’s re
search resulted in more than
240,000 bicycle helmets recalled.
Clothing, carpeting, luggage
bags, paper towels, and other
fiber products are tested in the
textile department. Carpeting is
tested by rotating drums that are
devised with simulated footsteps.
This enables the institute to de
termine if the flooring will hold
up in high traffic areas.
Clothing is washed five times
and checked for shrinkage and
color fastness. If the product has
more than a five percent shrink
age, it is not approved.
The Institute’s testing and re
sults are reported on many televi
sion networks, with special fea
tures throughout the year on
such programing as the Today
Show and Dateline.
Food requires much testing to
determine taste, nutritional
value, and calorie claims. Much
of this is conducted in the Insti
tute’s chemistry and food labs.
But taste testing booths are also
used. In these, participants are
given food in a red-lighted booth
that changes the color of the food
so that testers are not influence
by the color rather than the taste.
Barb Shank, Lititz, savors a moment in this famous set at the Good Housekeeping In
stitute.
Cookware tests on 62 different
sets of cookware were being eval
uated during the tour. Standa
rized tests require that all steps
Employees demonstrate a microwave test.
are consistent on each set, includ
ing the type of range used and
the cooking time.
Ever wonder how stain tests
are conducted? At the Institute, a
standard spinach mixture is used
to test many products. This mix
ture is consistently difficult to re
move and is used to test cleaners,
Delaware County Home
Gardeners’ School April 13
SPRINGFIELD (Delaware
Co.) Delaware County Master
Gardeners host the sixth annual
Home Gardeners’ School Satur
day, April 13.
Just a beginner, a weekend till
er or a dyed-in-the-wool avid gar
dener, which ever describes you,
get down and dirty at the sixth
annual Home Gardener’s School,
hosted by Penn State Coopera-
tive Extension Master Gardeners,
at the Penn State Delaware
County campus on Route 352,
one mile north of Granite Run
Mall.
Find out how to attract birds
and butterflies to your garden.
Learn to coax ornamental vines
around your home. Add color
and spice to your life with varie
gated plants and ornamental
grasses. Find out all about water
gardening.
Laurie Anne Albrecht will
share the secrets of birds and but
terfly gardening. Rick Colbert
“tells all” about ornamental
detergents, and textiles. In these
tests, the mixture is smeared on
glasses, dishes, and textiles, and
left set over night before it is re
moved.
Space is tight within the Insti
tute. Plans are in progress to relo
cate the Institute to more spa
cious quarters within a year.
grasses. Trust Kent Russell to
provide plans for variegated
plants that will have your land
scape bursting with color. An
drew Bunting will present a list
of irresistible vines for the home
to spruce up the barest of gar
dens. Liz Ball winds it all up with
lessons in water gardening in
cluding intriguing tricks of the
craft.
A $35 fee covers all presenta
tion materials, light morning re
freshments, lunch and a door
prize ticket.
Penn State soil test kits and lit
erature will be offered for pur
chase. There will be an enticing
array of gardening books by ex
perts in the field and plants to
slip right into your garden for
sale.
Advance registration is re
quired. For more information
and to receive a registration
form, please call Penn State Co
operative Extension at (610)
690-2655.