Evening star., 1911-08-27
Inspecting Food and Drugs Shipped Into This Country

toms division Of the Treasury Depart
ment in the classification of goods for
duty purposes. All shipments of goods,
whether food or not. when presented for
entry. must be covered by an invoice
setting forth the amount and value of
the goods, signed by the American con-
sui of the country from which the goods
are shipped. When the goods arrive at
the port of entry this consular invoice,
together with the bill of lading, Is pre-
sented to the customs department. and
from 1T is approxmated the duty. The
filing of these papers is called an entry"
The invoice, together with representative
portions of the goods, is delivered to the
the same and fixes the valuation thereof.
The major part of the shipment in the
meantime is released to the consignee
under proper bond for its return IL need
ed, a special form of bond being required
for food products. 1t is during the time
that the invoice and merchandise are In
the possession of the appraiser that the
food and drug products are inspected by
a representative of the Department of
Agriculture.
If the inspection Of an invoice reveals
no product from which q sample is de-
sired. the officer stamps the invoice mo
sample desired by United States Depart
ment of Agriculture" An invoice so
stamped may be returned to the collector
or passed to another examiner without
further detention. On the other hand, IL
an invoice reveals a product from which
a sample is desired for analysis, the Off
Ger attaches a Sample requested tag to
the invoice. On this tag is designated
the particular item from which a sam
pie is desired, and the amount. 1t then
becomes the duty Of the examiner hav-
ing the invoice in charge to procure the
sample and forward the same to the
laboratory at once, and in addition to
notify the consignee of the goods that a
sample has been taken for analysis. and
that he must hold the shipment intact
until the analysis is completed and he
has received further notice from the De-
partment of Agriculture.
~
In some cases 1t is impossible, from
the invoice alone, to determine whether
or not a sample should be requested. In
such cases a detention tag is attached
to the invoice. which retains the invoice
in the possession Of the examiner until
the goods covered by 1t are received and
can be inspected by the officer to find out
whether or not analytical examination
will be necessary. Following this inspec-
ton the same course is followed as In
the first instance.
The goods when they are entered arc
all opened on the examining floor for
classification by the examiners. and at
this time are inspected by the officer of
the Department of Agriculture. Aany
times the examination OF labels. condition
of products, etc, is all that is neces-
sary for his purpose. and can be done as
well on the examiners floor as elsewhere.
Frequent analysis Of brands or lines OF
products acquaints the
examiner with the character of the prod
uct and an inspection to determine the
presence OF absence of declaration OF
added materials may be all that Is nee
essary. Thus the inspection is greatly
facilitated. and the work of analyzing
samples in the laboratory lessened.
Analysis of any sample requested is
made with all haste possible, as the vast
amount Of matter entering daily must not