Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-25
NEW PURE FOOD LAW
HEARING A.raAGRxGHLTuRAL DE-
PARTMENr TOMORROW.

What probably swiu be- the last hearing on
the rules for the enforcement OF the pure
food law will be held at the Department Of
Agriculture tomorrow. The rules are
about ready to be promulgated. but the
live stock interests want to be heard before
they so late force Onlyssone> representa-
tive OF the Live Stock Association viii be
heard and his hearing probably will not
take very long. There may or may not be
seme changes made in the rules thereafter.
but that will be the last delay before they
are made public
There has been a good deal OF speculation
as to the effect that the new pure food law
viii have In barring out Imported meats
which have not been inspected. There are
good many that come under this class.
Epicures delight In number of imported
pates, principally pate de fol gras There
are various sorts OF imported German sau-
sages wild boar's head and smoked ducks
widely consumed. but for which there Is a
small steady demand. 1t has been said
that the pure food law will put a stop to
the Importation of all such articles. II
certainly will tend to put stop - their
transportation in. interstate traffic. But
the fact is that there Is already a law
which Is being vigorously enforced at New
York that is designed to stop anything o.
this sort that Is injurious at the point OF
entry. The import law under which the
Treasury Department has been working for
more than a year expressly forbids the I'M
portation of doctored, colored and mis-
branded food stuffs.
This has very largely hit the n,anufac-
turers of olive oils in the past. but there
have been number of other brands OF
foodstuffs, especially artifcialiy colored
bottled vegetables, refused admission I'M
der the existing law.
Misbranded Goods.
rTba rrosu,ao%e mo that tho par Low
not have any particular effect on legitimate
importations. What IT will stop. to large
extent. however. will be the misbranding OF
domestic foodstufrs. many of which have
been manufactured In New York. Chicago
and other points and sold under g foreign
label There is an immense trade OF this
sort going on. and although a state may
have local laws that would prohibit it. there
has never before been a federal statute
under which the manufacturers could be
prosecuted. Thus. a man might be manu-
featuring a high grade of French sardines
In New York. catching them on the coast OF
Maine and having the tins made in Pitts
burg, but he could sell them all over the
United States so long as they were not put
on the market in New York. This is one of
the things that the pure food law is intend
ed to put stop to-.
Hard on Some Foreign Foods
The new law will be rather hard on the
chinese. They import all sorts OF strange
things that have never seen government
inspector. 1t Is not known whether 1t Is
intended to stop the importation of birds
nest soup and sharks fms or whether the
ingredients for chop suey will all hereafter
have to come from Chicago.
It Is known that the Chinese do a large
trade in imported ducks eggs. some of
them fifty years old, the older the better
for real epicures. Tie. real thing In
ducks eggs comes put up in curious pitch
and felt sort of packing. They not in
tended for use at the theater, as might be
suspected. but are consumed solely In Chi
nese restaurants. But the food inspectors
at the ports of entry claim that there is
another brand Of preserved eggs from
China, largely doctored with boracic acid
and sold to bakers and confecuoners. The
trade in these has been stopped already.
and 1t Is not known whether the more
Client brand will be interdicted too.
The harmless E-che nut will not come
under the ban. as that is a simon pure
native article and does not need any doc
toring and cannot be made any worse than
1t naturally is anyhow. But from the pres
ent outlook the Spanish German and Chi
nese eating places that have depended for
their popularity on strange brands of for
eign prepared foods are going to have
rather hard time.