BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 213 



Exaniiiifition of Table 1 shows that action was recommended most 

 frequently against shipments of patent medicines, crude drugs and 

 pharmaceutical preparations; of mineral waters and nonalcoholic 

 beverages: of shell eggs and egg substitutes; of dair}^ products; of 

 gelatin; of olive oil: of oranges and tomato products; of sea foods; 

 of cacao products; of vinegar; and of stock feeds. 



Tn the patent medicine cases, it was alleged usually that they were 

 misbranded as to therapeutic claims under the Sherley amendment. 

 In the case of the crude drugs and pharmaceuticals it was usually 

 alleged either that they did riot comply with the requirements of 

 the United States Pharmacopoeia and were not labeled to indicate 

 wherein they differed from the standard of the Pharmacopoeia, or 

 else that they were otherwise misbranded or adulterated. 



In the mineral water cases it was alleged, as a rule, that they were 

 either polluted or misbranded as to therapeutic claims under the 

 Sherley amendment, or both. 



The expansion of the nonalcoholic beverage industry has made 

 necessar}' a close supervision of this class of products. Among the 

 various kinds of violations alleged the most common are based on 

 the representation by the manufacturer that the products consist in 

 whole or in part of fresh fruit juice, when, in fact, they contain 

 only some organic acid and an artificial flavor. Some of these prod- 

 ucts were found to contain saccharin substituted in whole or in part 

 for sugar. 



The work on shell eggs was in the nature of a follow-up cam- 

 paign of the action taken in jjrevious years and described in the 

 Report of the Chemist for 1918. The eggs arriving in the market 

 continue to improve in quality. The action against egg substitutes 

 is the outcome of the work inaugurated and described last year. 



The investigation of dairy products was designed to continue the 

 supervision of evaporated and whole milk received in interstate or 

 foreign commerce. In addition it was found that the high price 

 of butter stimulated its adulteration Avith water or salt, or both, 

 so as to lower the fat content. Much attention has been devoted to 

 putting a stop to this practice. 



The work upon gelatin was a continuation of that described last 

 year to suppress the sale of glue as edible gelatin. 



The olive oil cases Avere brought in conformity with the campaign 

 inaugurated in 1918 to prevent the adulteration with other edible 

 oils of olive oil, which is still practically unobtainable from Italj^, 

 altliough it can be secured from other Mediterranean countries, nota- 

 bly Spain. In consequence, much Spanish olive oil of excellent 

 quality has been misbranded as Italian oil, a practice which it has 

 been attempted to abolish. 



The work upon oranges, necessitated b}' the disastrous frost of 

 last winter, was designed to prevent the sale of frozen fruit. Frozen 

 oranges should be used for the preparation, near the point of pro- 

 duction, of jams and preserves, for which they seem suited if used 

 prompth\ 



While a number of cases have been made against tomato products, 

 the quality of these products as a whole continues to improve vastly. 

 The adulteration of canned tomatoes with added water is becoming 

 rare, and less tomato pulp made from partially moldy or fermenting 



