The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-01-26
SAFEGUARDING FOODS

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cials analysed 29,833 samples of foods
and drugs offered for interstate ship
ment and for import. A physical ex-
animation was made of samples from
76,468 shipments offered for import.
Of these foreign shipments, 6,353
were found to violate the law in some
respects and were either excluded
from the country or admitted only af-
ter the importers had relabeled them
to comply with the law Of the sam
Piles of domestic products analysed,
1886, either because of the nature of
the product or because of the label
on it did not tell the truth, were found
to be in violation of the Federal law
In 1864 cases the department recon-
mended to the Department of Justice
that criminal prosecution be institut-
ed against the manufacturers or that
the goods be seized. In many cases
where there was no evidence of inten-
ton to defraud, and where there was
merely some easily remedied flaw in
the wording of label, the shippers,
after being warned in hearings, vol
unfairly took steps which made their
products fully comply with the re-
quirements. In all, there were held
8,715 such hearings, many of which
resulted in the prosecutions indicated
and the gathering of evidence for a
large number of additional cases,
which will be forwarded to the De-
partment of Justice.
The Bureau of Chemistry in its an
nual report also calls attention to the
fact that through the system of Ser
vice and Regulatory Announcements
now in use, manufacturers are given
due notice of the requirements and
thus are enabled voluntarily to make
their products conform to the law. In
this way the Government achieves its
purpose, frequently without entering
into needless and very expensive lit
igation.
In the regulatory work special en-
phasis has been given to the control
of drug products and foods liable to
spoilage and pollution. These fire.
quently constitute 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-
lently labeled medicines and spur
ious, synthetic drugs.
i CURLING Fraudulent Medicines.
Attempts to counterfeit or adul-
terate imported drugs have been more
common since the recent high price
and scarcity of many of these pro-
ducts encouraged their imitation. It
is interesting to note that Of the /,
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,
it is believed, has exercised an i'm
portant deterrent effect on the ven,
doris of nostrums shipped from one
State to another.
The work of controlling the fraud
ulent labels of medicines and mine
raj waters has been greatly strength
ened by the establishment of sep
arate Office to deal with these mat
ters. At the request of the Secre-
tary of Agriculture an officer of the
United States Public Health Service
has been detailed to take charge of
this work. Moreover, through the
close cooperation established with
the foods and drugs officials of many
of the States the department was able
to direct the attention of the local au-
thorities to the presence of spurious
drugs in their States, and, as re-
suit, much of these fraudulent goods
in the hands of local dealers and be-
yond the reach of the Federal author
tiles were destroyed by State and. mu-
nicipal officers who, in many cases,
prosecuted those responsible for the
local traffic.
Milk, Eggs and Oysters.
The cooperation in the sanitary
control of the milk supply in small
cities described in the report for last
year has been extended to Illinois,
Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and
New England. 1t is proposed to re.
peat this work year after year, ex-
tending it each year to new territory.
In some localities bad conditions were
found, due in the main to insufficient
cooling. and careless handling. Per-
haps the best result Of this work has
been that it stimulated some of the
local authorities to take up similar
work independently so that definite
permanent improvement of the milk
supply Of number Of the cities has
resulted. The cooperative work on
the control of the shipment Of decom-
posed eggs described in the report of
last year has been extended to cover
much of the territory in which ship
ments originate, so that eggs are now
candled before shipments far more
than formerly, and the spoiled eggs
destroyed or fed to poultry and stock
At the same time information given
to local officials has helped them to
curb local traffic in eggs rejected in
Gambling.
The Bureau of Chemistry, after
making cooperative sanitary surveys
of oyster beds, issued warnings
against the interstate shipment Of
oysters from polluted and doubtful
beds, and where these warnings were
not regarded. under took prosecutions.
As result, interstate shipment from
such territory was stopped.
Other Authorizations.
The campaign against the sweating