80 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



true, that owing to the National Meat Inspection Act, the raw ma- 

 terials used for the production of tliis very generally used food pro- 

 duct were, in all large esiablishnienis, brought under the carelui ex- 

 amination of government experts, and ihat, as a result of the National 

 inspection, the sanitary character of the meats used had been quite 

 fully insured, as lespects the sausage produced in establishments of 

 such extent as to come within the scope of the National Act. Further- 

 more, the enactment and enforcement of the Pennsylvania law, by 

 wliich the slaughter of animals for use as food is placed under the 

 supervision of the State A'eterinarian, have materially increased the 

 safety of the public with respect to the products coming from the 

 smaller local butchering establishments. It is believed, therefoie, that 

 the sanitary risks had been quite materially reduced, if not wholly 

 removed, as the result of the operation of the national and state laws 

 just mentioned. 



^yith respect to the use of artificial coloring, by whose employment 

 to dye the casing of sausage, its appearance is so changed as to 

 deceive the jjurchaser concerning its quality, and to lead him to accept 

 as a prime article sausage made fiom inferior meats, i)rosecutions 

 brought under the general food law of the State had very largely 

 diminished this undesirable practice. The same statement applies 

 also to the use of boric acid and other preservatives, formerly much 

 used by some sausage manufacturers. 



The incorporation into the present sausage act, of these sanitary 

 provisions, and also of those relative to the use of coal tar dyes 

 and of chemical preservatives in sausage, was made necessary, how- 

 ever, because of the legal principle of giving to recently enacted laws 

 priority of application over laws earlier enacted upon the same 

 subject. The purpose of the reenactment of the special provisions 

 here under consideration, was to make sure that the general principle 

 adopted by the Legislature in enacting the Pure Food Law of May 13, 

 1909, should also apply in the case of sausage. 



The most important ncAv features appearing in the present sausage 

 act, are those prohibiting the addition of excessive amounts of water, 

 and of cereal or vegetable flour. For the information of the consumer, 

 1 desire to state, in this connection, the reasons for urging the in- 

 clusion of these prohibitions in the present sausage act, which, in this 

 respect, differs not at all in principle from the general food act, but 

 only in making specific a prohibition already implied in the general 

 food law, to the end that the manufacturers, the consumers and the 

 courts might more clearly understand and more efficiently enforce 

 these principles, as they affect sausage.* 



The general definition of sausage, incorporated in the act, is es- 

 sentiall}' that adopted by the Association of Official Agricultural 

 Chemists and the Association of National and State Food and Dairy 

 Departments, upon the recommendation of their joint committee on 

 food standards, who had devoted several years to the study of the 

 subject, and had not (mly familiarized themselves with the literature 

 pertaining to it, but had visited packing establishments and conducted 

 extensive correspondence with, and granted hearings to, the sausage 

 manufacturing trade. It is recognized that under the name '^sausage," 

 and more particularly under its German equivalent "Wurst," a great 



