BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



257 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT. 



DOMESTIC FOODS AND DRUGS. 



Fourteen hundred and seven recommendations for seizure and 851 

 recommendations for criminal prosecution were made to the Depart- 

 ment of Justice, through the office of the Solicitor. Table 1 gives a 

 list of the classes of products on which action was recommended, and 

 also the distribution of the recommendations among the various types 

 of products. 



Table 1. — Recommendations of actions on aUcyed violations of the Food and 

 Drugs Act transmitted to the Solicitor. 



Article. 



Criminal 

 actions. 



Alimentary pastes 



Bevera?;es and beverage in- 

 gredients 



Candy 



Cereals 



Chocolate and cocoa 



Coffee substitutes 



Colors, food 



Dairy products 



Drugs, crude 



Drugs, pharmaceutical 



Drugs, various remedies 



Drugs, remedies for stock 



Drugs, venereal disease reme- 

 dies 



Eggs 



Egg substitutes 



Feeds 



Fish 



Flavoring materials 



Fruits 



20 

 2 

 1 



3 

 2 



12 

 4 

 7 



77 

 9 



3 

 4o 

 17 

 242 

 11 

 30 

 10 



Seizures. 



6 



1 



4 



15 



24 

 1 



606 

 79 



215 

 16 

 8 

 36 

 67 

 28 

 44 



Article. 



Gelatin 



Ice-cream cones 



Jam, jelly, and marmalade 



Meat and poultry 



Nuts 



Olives 



Oils, olive, table, salad, etc 



Pie fillings , 



Poppy seed 



Preservatives , 



Saccharin 



Shellfish 



Sirups, honey, sugar 



Spices and relishes 



Tomato and tomato products. 



Vegetables 



Vinegar 



Water, mineral 



Total. 



Criminal 

 actions. 



20 



125 

 3 



1 



5 



80 



1 



7 



6 



18 



17 



29 



818 



Seizures. 



2 



3 



17 



5 

 1 



84 



83 



28 



8 



1,407 



Examination of Table 1 shows that prosecution was recommended 

 most frequently on shipments of patent medicines, of mineral waters, 

 of stock feeds, of edible oils, of flavoring materials, of beverages, 

 of eggs and egg substitutes, of dairy products, of fruit and vege- 

 table products, of gelatin, of fish and shellfish, and of saccharin. 



The distinctive characteristic of the year's work on drugs was 

 the systematic campaign, begun last year, against misbranded medi- 

 cines for the treatment of venereal diseases, and continued with such 

 success that misleading statements upon the packages and labels 

 of these preparations have almost wholly disappeared so far as in- 

 terstate commerce is concerned. With the assistance of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, many successful actions were brought against 

 misbranded veterinary remedies, especiallj' against those claiming 

 to cure or prevent hog cholera. 



Some of the ca.ses again.st shipments of fruits Avere directed against 

 rain-damaged raisins of the California crop of 1918 that were so 

 moist as to have become moldy or that were contaminated with 

 enough unremovable sand spattered upon them by the rain to ren- 

 der them inedible. Vigorous action was taken in cooperation with 

 the California authorities to prevent the shipment of evaporated 

 apples with excessive moisture. Thousands oi tons had to be ade- 

 quately dried, with a corresponding savin<j to the consumer. In 

 consequence, moisture content has been included in the trade's in- 



