41 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



REPORT OF THE DAIRY AND FOOD 

 COMMISSIONER. 



Harrisburg, Pa., December 31, 190 J^,. 



Hon, N. B. Critclifield, Secretary of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pa.: 



Dear Sir: The work of the year just ended has been, in the main, 

 productive of satisfactory and profitable results, and the contest 

 against food adulterations which was instituted at the beginning of 

 my official term, April 1, 1903, has at no time been relaxed, as offi- 

 cial records will show. 



ENCOURAGEMENT RECEIVED FROM THE PUBLIC. 



It is gratifying to be able to state that the citizens of Pennsyl- 

 vania, collectively considered, have generally endorsed and supported 

 the efforts to secure a better supply of pure food commodities. To 

 this support so freely accorded is owing largely the fact that the 

 results secured were made possible. The public press was also an 

 important factor in this work. Editorial expressions naturally in- 

 fluence the public mind, and after the extent of the adulterations 

 practiced became known, and the effect upon health was demon- 

 strated, the public and press combined in their friendly efforts to 

 assist the State officials in driving from the markets such commodi- 

 ties as were found injurious or fraudulent. 



PURE FOOD SUPPLY INCREASED. 



That the food commodities of Pennsylvania have been greatly im- 

 proved will appear to any careful observer, and that a new era of 

 better food and drink is at hand, is hardly ever controverted. The 

 work of the Commissioner and his assistants throughout Pennsyl- 

 vania has been earnestly directed toward securing such results, and 

 it is pleasing to know that these efforts have, to a large degree, 

 proved successful. 



ANALYTICAL DATA OF SPECIAL INTEREST. 



When the law was first placed in operation, Professor Cochran, 

 the chief chemist employed by this Bureau, discovered that from 

 fifty to seventy-five per centum of the commodities classed as spices 

 were adulterated, while the analysis of food products in general 

 showed an almost equally great percentage of adulterations. Of 

 course, it is hardly necessary to explain that the special agents em- 

 ployed were particularly enjoined to secure samples of suspicious 

 food products, and to this fact, in a measure, can be attributed the 

 remarkably high percentage of adulterated brands found analyzed. 



