Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-12-23
Bureau of Inspection


They Poison?" from a Bath paper
was on Thursday shown Chief A. M.
G. Soule of the Bureau of Inspection,
department Of agriculture, accompan-
led by the plain question What about
Iit?":
"A man who purchased some pecan
nuts at Bath store this week was
told by friend that there was some
thing the matter with the nuts from
that store, as his wife, after eating
some, had become very sick; so bad
in fact, was she that he called in a
doctor, who declared that she was
poisoned by the nuts.
But the first man thought that he
some nuts. telling his wife what had
been told him about them. The lady
examined them but could detect moth
ing the matter with them. and she
gave some to her little child. The
child went to cracking them with her
teeth, when the mother in a few mo-
ments observed a reddish coloring
about the child's mouth.
Investigation showed that the nuts
had been artifcally colored, in order
doubtless to give them a bright and
fresh appearance, and There was
quite a heavy coating Of the material
too. Now whether this coloring mat
, ter was poison or not could only be
guessed. The meats Of the nuts didn't
look bad. and perhaps II they had
been opened with nut-cracker they
would have passed all right. But as
it was. the members Of the family
were all made a little suspicious. and
the nuts remain uneaten.
1.-THE thing seems to be a fraud any
how. and pure food law officers might
well take notice."
| ''Now isn't that just like a-s,o. no.
a woman, but like a man. It is only
by your kindness in bringing the clip
ping to me that we know anything al
all about the case. Why didn't the
parties send the uneaten nuts to this
department? Had they done 80, an
investigation would have been made
at once and If anything out Of the
way with the nuts was found. no more
OF them would have been sold.
"The law requires this department
to promptly investigate and report on
any and all complaints concernins
samples submitted to us and that fact
Is announced in all of our bulletins
and publications. We should be pleased
to receive samples Of suspected food
articles at any time and assure you
that immediate attention will be given
1T Is a custom. and one to be con-
demned, on the part Of some export
ers to polish the nuts by placing In
rapidly rotating drums and also, in
order to sell a uniformity colored prod l.
uct. they have used bleaching. Nei-
ther one Of these methods Of '1mprov-
ing" the appearance of the nuts is
against the law, but 1t adds absolutely
nothing to the quality and should be
discountenanced. People might assist
in stopping the practice and thereby
secure a better and fresher nut by re-
fusing to accept any that show signs
Of having been polished or bleached.
"All coloring matter, unless plainly
advertised when exposed for sale, is
forbidden by the pure food laws.
Any cases Of that kind should imme-
diately be reported to this office and
we will have an inspector on the spot
as soon as he can reach it-but re-
member, we are not mind readers and
cannot get all these cases without as
sistance from the purchasing public.
You may also feel assured that the
dealers who knowingly handle such
goods will never volunteer any such
assistance or information, unless they
are "stung" too badly themselves.