The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-11-21
PREVENT WASTE !
BY CLEANLINESS
Necessity Of Maintaining Pre-
War Standards Of Sanitation
Are Pointed Out.
scAaciTY OF HELP BLAMED
Most Essential Factor In Health Of
Natlen Need Not 0s Neglected Un-
der War conditiens-vceuntry..
Store Dothersome.

Many grocery stores have fallen
away from pre-war standards Of clean
liness. say 't6iciaist Of the. bureau of
chemistry United States department
OF agriculture, in charge Of the en-
forcement Of the Federal Food and
Drugs Act. State and city inspectors
attribute this partly to scarcity Of help
and to less efficient help.
Cleanliness in handling food u even
more important In times Of war than
In times Of peace. say the specialists.
In order that the maximum efficiency
Of our army Of fighters abroad and our
army Of workers at home may be main
tAined. Clean Ut 3res not only promote
health. but prevent waste Of food.
That they can b k4bc deaAukder pre-
vailing conditions IL shown hy the fact
that some Of the best stores isre main
tained in standards of cleanliness
which insure that the food they handle
will not be contaminated. TAis Is EVIL
dence that this most essential factor
in the health OF the nation need not be
neglected under war conditions.
The small country grocery Is one Of
The most dinicult problems Of the food
Inspector. The country sstore is both
foods. 1t buys from the farmer such
products ~ eggs, poultry, nuts. fruits.
grslhs and vegetables and sells to him
everything id the food line not pro-
duceti In the community. 1t handles
food both coming and going. II the
store IL dirty, with dust on the shelves
and cObwebs In the corners, with in
sects and vermin under the counters
and in the bins, and with flies every
where. the food both for the country
and for the city is sure to become con-
taminated. When the country as a
whole Is considered. the loss Of food
through spoilase from contamination
Mn unciean stores is enormous. The
most important consideration. how
ever, in the opinion Of federal. state
and city food officials, is the danger to
the health Of the people who consume
the food. A dirty, insanitary store or
food shop II q most potent factor in
the spread Of disease.
competition In Cleanliness.
Where there il keen competition,
cleanliness Is more likely to prevail
A clean. well-lighted store attracts Gus
toners The cost Of 'scrupuiOus clean
illness IL more than overbalanced by
the gain In the prevention Of spOllage,
and by it's custom-drawing value.
Novel methods have been adopted by
state and city officials to bring about
competition in, cleanliness. One state
has reported excellent results from au-
thorizing the food inspectors to issue
colored placards to the stores at the
time Of inspection indicating the de-
gree Of cleanliness found A store
which II found to be In excellent con-
dltIon. in cleanliness and sanitation is
given q white card; one In good cOndi-
tion Is given a biue card, and one that
Lie satisfactory is given red card. A
kstoee Tint falls below n satisfactory
fratfng is not given a card. This 'sys'
| Itnn resulted in much competition
[anDon9 the merchants to get the high
Esxt possible rating in sanitation. The
lhcusewiyes soon learned what the pla-
cards sisnified and did their buying
'nceorolngly. ~