The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1919-05-12
FEDERAL Law REDUCES
MISBRAnDING OF FOODS
Less Deception Than In Any Other
General Glass Of Merchandise; De-
partment Of Agriculture Re-
views Notices Of Judgment
Covering Food and
Drug Prose.
BUTTONS.

washington, -. C.-RepOrtS ON more
than $500 food and drug coses, in
GLIDING both criminal prosecutions
and seizures terminated in the FEEDER
al courts, have been published in the
form of Notices Of Judgment since the
enactment of the Federal Food and
Drugs Act, according to recent state
ment of the officials of the Bureau of
Chemistry, United States Department
Of Agriculture, in charge of the en-
forcement of that law. This number
represents only instances of fragrant
misbranding or adulteration in which,
in the opinion of the officials, 1t was
necessary to prosecute the party re-
sponsible or seize the goods in order
to check the practice. Thousands Of
other forms of minor misbranding, say
the officials, have been corrected by
serving notices on the parties respon-
sible without recourse to formal legal
action. The food industries in many
instances voluntarily have changed
trade practices of long standing.
The violations of the act on which
the court actions were based cover
nearly every food product from ali
mentary paste to zwieback, including
soft sardines from Maine, as well as
spoiled salmon from Washington;
frozen oranges from California, as
well as sweated grapefruit from Porto
Rico. Prosecutions on patent medi-
cines range from so-called sure
cures for tuberculosis and influenza to
candy cathartics and castor oil. In
the beverage line, cider as well as
champagne, grape juice as well as gin,
water as well as wine, have been call
ed to the bar-of the Federal courts
to show cause why they should not be
poured into the sewer and thus divert
ed from the alimentary canal.
Contamination is one of the adulter-
alton which covers a large number of
violations, and is due principally to
carelessness or lack of knowledge of
proper methods for preparing, hand
ling, shipping, and storing perishable
foods, as is the case with milk having
a high bacterial count; spoiled fish,
rotten eggs, swelled canned goods, de-
composed tomato pulp, and putrid
meat.
The food specialists have done eX-
tensive experimental work in develop
ing methods for preparing and hand
ling perishable foods, and in aiding
manufacturers, shippers, and dealers
to apply those methods in a practical
way. The marked improvement in the
methods of handling perishable foods
during recent years has been due, in
the opinion of the food officials, as
much to the experimental and educa-
tional work as to the regularity action
under the Food and Drugs Act.
Substituting a cheaper article of
food in whole or in part for more
expensive one is a favorite form of
adulteration which is some instances
relieves the pocketbook without in
jury to health, and leaves the pur-
chosen none the wiser. In many in
stances of this form of adulteration,
however, the substituted ingredient
has less food values or nutritive, ma
terial than the genuine article. Such
forms of substitution include the adj
ditional of ground pepper shells to
pepper; chicory to coffee; dulte ace
tic acid vinegar; distilled vinegar to
cider or sugar vinegar; glue to gela-
tine; and artificial extrat to vanilla
flavor. The milk man is not the only |
visitor to the pump or hydrant Added |
water or excessive moisture has been
found in oysters, fruit juices, canned |
goods, vinegar, and grains, and even
in dried apples as we'll as in other food
products.
The cases in which it was charged
that ingredients harmful to health had
been deliberately added to foods are
few in number The Federal Food and
Drugs Act specifically prohibits the
addition of such ingredients to food
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