The weekly news. [volume] (Anacostia [i.e. Washington] D.C.) 1909-19??, 1909-12-04
ENOUGH ALCOHOL IN
POUND OF CANDY TO
INTOXICATE, HE SAYS
U. S. Food Inspector Tells How
Government Stops Adul-
teratOn
PREVENTS IMPORTATION
Under Present Law All Ingre-
dents Must be Named
on Label

on Label
That the United States pure
food and drug act, which went
into effect three years ago, has
proved wonderfully efficient in
preventing the adulteration of inn
ported foodstuffs and articles of
interstate commerce was the state
ment made yesterday by Clement
S. Brinton, chief of the Philadel-
phia Food Inspection Laboratory.
In a lecture delivered before
students Of the Medico-C hiruggi-
cal College at 18th and Cherry
streets, Philadelphia, Mr.. Brintou
told the story Of the pursuit Of
the adulterators, and gave in de-
tail a surprising list of articles
which had been ingeniousil doc
tored.
According to his statement,
hardly any article of food had
escaped adulteration of some
kind Under the operation of the
act, it was a simple matter to deal
with imported products. Once it
had been determined that an arti-
Gle of food was adulterated, the
producer could be required to
label the article in such a manner
as to show that it had been adul-
terated In certain instances the
enforcement Of the law in this
regard had the final result of
stopping importation altogether.
Mr.. Brinton declared that the
importation of adulterated ar
ticles Of food is growing less
every day, and, with the cooper
alton Of food and drug manufac-
turers, he expects soon to see the
day when adulterated articles of
food will be an unusual exception.
Alcohol in Candies.
Interesting eases of substitu-
ton of chemicals and inferior ma
terials for the original goods
were show, and the methods of
enforcing the law were explained.
Most of the violations of the pure
food act that %serel discussed were
in imported articles, such as
wines, candies, macaroni and pep
per, which articles were returned
to Europe as soon as the adulter-
alton or substitution was discov-
cred. Mr. Brinton told of expen-
sive candies imported in large
quantities and said:
Each piece Of the candy CON
tanned few drops of alcohol,
and a pound Of the stuff contained
enough liquor to make a person
intoxicated The importation of
these candies was Immediately
prohibited, unless the manufac-
turers would consent to state that
they contained liquor.
"The same ruling applied to
maraschino cherries, which were
imported from France, and which
were cOlored with coal-tar dye.
Pepper imported from Italy was
coated with a mixture of sand
and lamp black, and sold in this
country by frst-class grocers as
high-grade spices.
Even the common, everyday
cheese was not free from sub
stitution. Cheese supposed to be
made from rich cream was shown
on examination in the government
laboratory, to be made from par
TALLY skinned milk. Ia this in
stance the manufacturer was mott
fled that he would have to say on
the label, Made from partially
skinned milk, or his cheese
would not be admitted. After
being detected in placing this
notice ON the package in minute
Letters and being told to give it
more prominence, the importa-
ton ceased entirely"
When showing a sample of hon
ey made almost entirely from
glucose and sugar, and imported
~ high-class grocer from
France, Mr.. Brinton said:
"Why, you can buy better
honey right here at your door in
Jenkintown, and honey that is as
good as can be obtained anywhere
in the world"