The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1916-12-26

due notice of the requirements and
thus are enabled voluntarily to make
their products conform to the law. In
this way the government achieves lts
purpose, frequently without entering
Into needless and very expensive It'll
cation.
In the regulatory work, special en-
phasis has been given to the control
of drug products and foods liable to
lspoiIage and pollution. These fire.
quently constitute a serious menace
to health. The food inspectors have
been instructed to be particularly
watchful for interstate shipments OF
bad eggs milk, oysters, and spoiled
canned goods, and false and fraudu-
llently labeled medicines and spurious,
synthetic drugs.
curbina Fraudulent Medicines.
Attempts to counterfeit or adulter-
ate imported drugs have been more
common since the recent high price
and scarcity Of many of these prod
lucts encouraged their imitation. It is
interesting to note that of the 1,036
cases terminated in the courts during
the year, 1913 were brought on account
| of the false and fraudulent labelling Of
medicines. In all Of these medical
cases, save five, the courts found for
the government, and this, 1T IL be-
lieved, has exercised an important de-
terrent effect on the vendors Of nos
trums shipped from one state to
Ianother.
The work of controlling the fraud
ulent labels of medicines and mineral
waters has been greatly strengthened
by the establishment Of a separate
Office to deal with these matters. At
the request of the secretary of agri-
culture an officer Of the L. S. Public
Health service has been detailed to
take charge of this work. Moreover.
Through the close cooperation estab-
lished with the foods and drugs off,
lcials Of many of the states. the de-
partment was able to direct the at
tention of the local authorities to the
Ipresence of spurious drugs in their
states and. as a result. much Of these
fraudulent goods in the hands OF 10
cal dealers and beyond the reach OF
the federal authorities. were destroy
ed by state and municipal officers who,
in many cases, prosecuted those re-
tsponsible for the local traffic.
| Milk, Eggs and Oysters.
The cooperation in the sanitary
control Of the milk supply Of small
cities described in the report for last
year has been extended in Illinois
Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and
lin New England. 1t is proposed to re-
lpeat this work year after year, ex-
TENDING it each year to new territory
lin some localities bad conditions were
found. due in main to insufficient
lcooling and careless handling. Per-
Ihaps the best results of this work have
Ibeen that it stimulated some Of the
local authorities to take up similar
work independently so that definite
permanent improvement Of the milk
Isupply Of a number of cities has re-
lsulted. The cooperative work on the
lcontrol Of the shipment OF decompos.
ed eggs described in the report of last
Iyear has been extended to cover much
of the territory in which shipments
ioriginate so that eggs are now candied
before shipment far more than for.
Imerly and the spoiled eggs destroyed
Tor fed to poultry and stock. At the
same time information given to local
Iofficials has helped them to curb local
ttraffic in eggs rejected in Gambling.
The bureau of chemistry, after max
ling cooperative sanitary surveys oil
Ioyster beds, issued warnings against
lfrom polluted and doubtful beds and
where these warnings were not re-
garded. undertook prosecutions. AS
la result, interstate shipment from
Isuch territory was stopped.
Other AduIterations.
The campaign against the sweat
ling of immature oranges and imma-
lture grapefruit so as to give the i'm
mature fruit the color of ripe fruit has
been successful, largely because Of the
Iactive help of the greater part of the
Icitrus- fruit producers Compare
lively few sweated, immature oranges
were offered during the last year, and
lit is believed the better quality oi
fruit resulted in steaGier market sc
that the producer as well as the con-
Isumer benefited.
Other forms Of adulteration no. al
lready mentioned that received espec,
lial attention are the adulteration Of
tscaIlops and canned tomatoes witt
wafer, the substitution of coloret
Istarch paste for tomato sauce. tht
lreprocessing OF spoiled canned goods
1.-THE traffic in Gull beans. in decomposec
tomato products, in rancid olive oil
in wormy horse beans, the substitution
lof foreign fat for cacao butter in ant
1.-THE addition OF cacao shells to. cacaS
lproducts, the adulteration OF rice brar
with rice hulls. the coloring of inferior
lmacaroni and of plain noodles, tn,
lmtsbranding Of domestic macaroni IL
Stimulation of imported goods, and ths
ladulteration of oats with water OF
Tweed seeds.