The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-23
FOOD FRAUDS IN NEW YORK.
The Private Brand' Loophole for
 Evading the Law

The Private Brand' Loophole for
 Evading the Law.
 New Workers are said to be cheated lion dollars every year inthe purchase of adulterated foods.
 As the food conditions in New York are no better than the average in the rest of the United Ctates, that city, ac- cording to What to Eat, naturally bears it's proper proportion of the na- tion's $2,350, 1000 annual loss.
 What is known as "reprocessing" of foods has grown into a great business in New York. This is a renovating process that is supposed to make spoiled foods pure.
 In the ''reprocessing" good of all kinds are put in tins which are made air tight. The cans are then subjected to heat sufficient to kill all the life germs inside, When the heat subsidies the fruit or vegetable in the can de- creases in volume and a vacuum is formed within, which tends to contract the can.
 If, however, the heat should be insuf- ficient to fill it's purpose, or if there is a small hole in the can, or if, after a year or so, the acids contained in the preserved matter are strong enough to eat through the tin at some point-then the goods spoil.
 They become hopelessly infected and odorous, and unless neutralizing acids or chemicals are introduced (which, by the way, do not destroy poisons) there is no possibility of foisting the cans on the public.
 The renovator bores two holes in the end of the can which is swelled and heats it, forcing out the air and gases. Then the can is resealed. Renovated goods can always be detected by the soldering over the two holes in the end of the can.
 Sale of these goods is principally to bakeries and such places. The fruits are used by bakeries in making pies.
 Such "reprocessing" plants may con- stitute a separate department of a fac tory or be an independent institution that buys lip all the spoiled goods of well known houses and by the renova- tion converts them into marketable foods.
 The private brand fraud is described as being probably the greatest evil af- fecting New York as a whole. Some of these goods are represented as the very highest class and sold for high prices.
 These brands do not bear the actual name of the manufacturer, not the place of manufacture, but have some tempting title accompanied with the name of the retailer or jobber. Thus they are made exclusively for the trade of the city and state and do not have to comply with the requirements of the national law.
 Often the brands are falsely repre- sented as being manufactured by the retailer or jobber. One New York manufacturers whose name rarely ap- pears on anything he produces, puts out half hundred or more of these private brands, bearing the names ut as many retailers and jobbers, who, the consumer is led to believe, are the &C., tual manufacturers.
 Not all the private brands are frauds, of course, but as they do not generally enter into interstate commerce and therefore are not amenable to the na- tional food law, the consumer has req son to doubt most of them, and many of the worst frauds on the market are praetised under these guises.
 The New York health authorities have been displaying great activity of late in efforts to rid the city of the food in7nurities mentioned here. During the