East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-12-20
WHO VIOLATE
FOOD AND DRUG ACT
NOT So NUMEROUS NOW
Fewer Violations 70; nd by
Men in Federal Service
Than Formerly Prevailed.

The manufacturer wl.O violates the
Federal Food n Drug law today is
an artist compared with the VIOLA
tor OF a few years ago. lie does not
offend 50 frequently or so fragrant
lN, but he is harder to catch. The
gross n crude violations so fire.
~quently found during the early days
of the laws enforcement have given
place to more subtle forms that, to
be detected, require more careful in
i v~estigation, says the chief of the Du-
reau of Chemistry. United States De-
APARTMENT of Agriculture, in his annu-
al report. On the whole, violations
! are much less frequent. Only 4
small portion OF the food and drugs
in interstate or foreign is
= either adulterated or m~isbranded.
In the enforcement of the Food
: and Drugs Act during the last year
= the bureau of Chemistry recommen-
: ded the seizure of l677 shipments
: and criminal prosecutions in sos
: cases. The seizures and prosecutions
: recommended we're based most fire.
%quently upon shipments Of patent
medicine including stock remedies,
] stock feeds, beverages, eggs. food
n colors, fish and shelltish, salad oils,
8 vinegar, artificial sweeteners and to-
= mato products, but included a con
siderable lumber Of other food
= stuffs.
4 The activities of he year on pat
ent medicines included Y66 actions
= directed mainly toward the elimina-
n ton OF false and fraudulent claims on
the abels regarding curative powers
for Il great variety of diseases. The
stock feed cases, 1872 in number.
were based on products deficient in
protein or otherwise failing to con-
> form to the claims made upon the
: labels.
Imitation fruit beverages sold UNI
der labels implying the presence of
substantial quantities of fruit Juice
were encountered, but an increasing
4 number of manufacturers have revls-
ed their labels to accord with the
J true composition of their products, or
= have actually incorporated fruit juice
us an essential ingredient OF the ar
y ticle.
Vinegar was the basis of 90 ac-
q tons under the law. 1t was neces-
=. a., 20. Ia an,ttpha thn uai1ilsa of pinn.
4 gar made from dried apple products
:, bearing labels which represented it
= as manufactured from the pressed
= juice of fresh-eppies.-tfhis type of.
substitution has eXerted Il seriously
demoralizing effect upon the trade in
J genuine apple cider vinegar, saysN tire
report.
The short-weighting of tins OF We
= 'getable oil was one OF the most per-
sistent and petty types of violation
of the Food and Drugs Acts encoun-
= tered. There was found a wide
spread practice among the smaller
@jpackers of vegetable oils TO put out
= packages showing Il comparatively
small but constant shortage from the
quantity stated on the labels, In the
long run this shortage results in an
unfair but substantial profit to- the
packers at the expense of the con-
sumers, says the report. These pack
Hers also persisted in adulterating
olive oil with cheaper vegetable oils
and in selling the cheaper product
: under labels implying that Ii was
-lolive oil. Repeated actions have been
brought in am endeayor TO control
this type of violation.
Oysters and scallops, adulterated
: with water, the cheapest and most
Llprevalent of all deliberations, were
the basis of numerous prosecutions.
Actions OIL colors have resulted from
the sale OF dyes represented as Huit-
able for use in food which were eth
er harmful in themselves or contain
! ed deleterious impurities, such IN
arsenic, or were mixed with large
~HlQuantitles Of inert material having no
Icoloring value, Tomato products re-
figured much attention. owing TO the
practice of some manufacturers of
using rotten and decayed stock, or of
adulterating with water or material
made from tomato waste. avs N
So-called lithia waters. containing
Y only the merest trace of lithium, but
alleged to be of the greatest thea
. peutic value because of their lithium
content, have been virtually ellmi-
mated from the market. Interstate
commerce in mineral waters and
other drugs alleged to contain radi-
lum which were put on the market
following the announcement that
Iradium effected wonderful cures,
threatened to develop to large pro-
portions, but was stopped before 1t
iattained much momentum.
Effective campaigns have been
carried on to eliminate from inter
: state commerce shipments of milk
mtand cream highly contaminated with
bacteria. Some contaminated miner
al springs have been closed, while in
others the manner of handling the
products and Of purifying it have
been revolutionized Methods have
been devised for the detection, by
means of the microscope, of deconl-
posed fruits and vegetables in pre-
! pared food products. Investigations
have been made to establish as full
4 ly as possible the character of the