420 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



purity and grade. Although there has been a great improvement in 

 the character of foods and drugs now being manufactured and sold, 

 as well as in the representations made concerning them, the number of 

 prosecutions concluded during this year was greater than ever, and 

 resulted in the inspectors devoting much time to attendance at trials 

 and in securing needed evidence at the request of prosecuting attor- 

 neys; this, of course, afTccted the volume of routine inspection work. 

 In addition to the samples mentioned, there were also obtained 

 approximately 2,000 informal samples for the information of the 

 bureau, for scientific research, or to indicate the general character of 

 interstate shipments. The careful inspection of factories was not 

 neglected, ana as the location of certain classes of producers becomes 

 better known this branch of the inspection work is being systematized 

 so that more results are obtained with less expenditure of time and 

 effort. 



COOPERATION OF INSPECTORS IN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



Work Continued prom the Previous Year. 



Sardines. — Among the unfinished work of the preceding year 

 was the investigation of the sardine-packing industry, which it was 

 impossible to conclude within the usual season because of the late 

 run of fish. This was continued during the summer and fall of 1910, 

 and a number of reports and specimens were submitted, the examina- 

 tion of which verified the belief thnt the products were unfit for food 

 purposes either because of age and spoilage or contamination with 

 tin. A number of seizures of such goods was made, the last and most 

 important of these consisting of 8 carloads of sardines which were 

 seized before the consignee, a packing firm, had an opportunity to 

 process them. In this case the goods were in such an advanced stage 

 of decomposition as to constitute an adulteration. The inspectors 

 were aided in this investigation by a number of firms and individuals 

 connected with the trade, who were desirous of checking certain un- 

 desirable practices which had begun to invade the industry. 



Bleached flour. — The collection of official samples of flour which 

 had been bleached ^vith nitrogen peroxid was also continued, for re- 

 peated investigations proved that a number of mills were continuing 

 to ship interstate consignments of such products in the face of adverse 

 decisions by the courts. The data thus obtained was used in sustain- 

 ing the department's position in the bleached-flour appeal case which 

 was argued in the spring of 1911, following the decision in Kansas 

 City in July, 1910. 



Egg products and vinegars. — In spite of the many actions 

 brought against shipments of egg products which were unfit for food 

 purposes because of fil thin ess, putridity, or decomposition, traffic in 

 such inferior articles of food did not seem to abate, as a resume of the 

 inspection work shows that a far greater number of samples of such 

 adulterated eggs were collected and more seizures made during this 

 period than in the preceding year. Vinegar is another substance 

 which continued to be the subject of sophistication, and a great many 

 instances of adulteration have been reported, the chief form of which 

 is the admixture of inferior vinegar with cider vinegar, and the subse- 

 quent misbranding of the compounds as apple or cider vinegar. 



