The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-11-08
DRIVING UU1. The
BOGUS fGOD men
Effective Work OF State Bureau
in Behalf Of Consumer.
DEVICES OF AOULTERATORS
Commissioner Foust's Agents In Every
County - Vigorous Enforcement ot
New Laws.

The adulterators and posoners of
food products are being driven out Of
business in Pennsylvania. The de or,
mination of the state administration
to protect the health of the people by
the rigid enforcement of the pure food
laws is removing the evils of an in
dustry, which in recent years has in.
vaded every community in this coun-
try. The regulation of the manufac-
ture and sale of food products in
Pennsylvania is being commented on
approvingly by officials of the agri
cultural department at Washington, as
well as by officials of the dairy and
food commissions in every other state.
Effective legislation for the protec-
tion of the consumer from the manu-
facturer of bogus foods was made ne
cessary by new conditions. With the
rapid increase of population there
came change in the methods of
preparation and manufacture of food
products unknown a quarter of cen
tury ago. With these manufactures
came the doper and adulterator. Anc
he increased and multiplied. Hardly
a commodity that finds a place upon
the table of the consumer escaped his
sinister influence. This state of af-
fairs led to the enactment of laws
regulating the manufacture of fooG
products and appropriations for their
enforcement by the dairy and food
commissioner
Pure Food Campaign Statewide.
The fight for pure food for the peo-
pie is notable feature of the admin,
istration of Governor John K. Tener.
In many of his speeches during the
campaign last year Governor Tener
emphasized the necessity of vigorous
measures against the dopers, and his
| pledges on the stump in this direction
are being fulfilled. This is made pos
sible by supplementary pure food en-
| actments by the Legislature at it's ~
cent session. James Foust, the dairy
and food commissioner, who is direct
ing the campaign against manufactur-
ers of bogus foods with marked abil-
ity, has assumed an uncompromising
attitude toward the violator of the
pure food laws. Into every county the
commissioner has sent agents to Sc
cure evidence upon which to base pros.
ecutions. The result of his vigorous
methods are indicated by long list
of convictions during the past eight
months.
The work of the food department in
p"oviding the consumer with products
of high standard is illustrated by the
nr1fn Of af ho
ture signed by Governor Tener April
g. This legislation is aimed at the
manufacturer of spurious sausages. It
defines the process of sausage making
and establishes the lawful ingredients
of that product by defining what are
not lawful ingredients. AS the season
is approaching when buckwheat cakes
and sausage occupy prominent place
in the breakfast menu, the sausage
producer is a busy man.
The Shrinking Sausage Links.
1t has been the practice of many
manufacturers to take 60 per cent of
meat, and add thereto Is per cent of
| potato flour or some other cereal, per-
| mitting the addition of 25 per cent
water, which the flour would readily
| absorb. The sausage looks all right in
the market, but when it is put into
the frying pan it begins to shrink
like a cake of ice in the sun. When
the cook makes a stab at the stuffed
skin the water blows after the fashion
of bursted fire hose, and the pleth.
oric link diminishes in size with
amazing suddenness.
Now meat costs the butcher an av-
erage of 10 cents per pound and po-
| tato flour is worth a trifie less than
cents, while the water is clear profit,
hence the temptation to construct the
sausage along unlawful lines.
Adulterations in the sausage line
tre not confined to the pork variety
Bologna is mixed in much the same
way and is also boiled in a harmful
chemical concoction to give it rich
.olor, all of which is forbidden by
Jaw. Commissioner Foust insists that
people who pay the current high
prices for sausage are entitled to have
their purchase all meat, with the priv
ilege of adding the other ingredients
themselves, if they so desire.
No Compromise With Offenders.
While the economical spirit of mod.
ern merchandising manages to work
up all of the animal, including horns,
hoofs and intestines, into by-products,
in The future in Pennsylvania the pro.
duct must be just what it is represent.
ed when sold to the consumer or the
state bureau will know the reason
why. The commissioner has no desire
to take snap judgment on any one OF
cause trouble because of real ignor.
ance, and hence he gives fair warning
. offenders.
The western sausage manufacturers
lnS others are urging that the en-
-rcement of the law be suspended
With respect to goods bought by re
tailers and placed upon their shelves
prior to the passage of the sausage
law, but Mr.. Foust has replied that
the manufacturers must take back
their goods. Throughout the state
Commissioner Foust's agents are al