BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 585 



meal made from spoiled corn from that made from sound corn, an 

 examination of the meals and p-its otlcred for sale in the Southern 

 States has recently been undertaken. The results show that 100 per 

 cent of the meals examined h.ad undoubtedly been made from spoiled 

 corn, although in appearance they could not be told from meal made 

 from sound corn. 



Sea'ii'i.e laboratoky. — The anal3'tical studies and investigations in- 

 cluded (he changes in composition of fresh fruits (raspberries) due 

 to keeping, the composition of noodles with varying egg content, co- 

 operative work for the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists 

 on heavy metals in foods, especially tin. and on headache mixtures, 

 camphor, and food colors, composition of soy-bean products, and the 

 canning of salmon. 



EXAMINATION OF DAIRY TRODUCrS. 



The work of the dairy laboratory, as in previous years, has covered 

 the entire range of dairy products, including other articles closely 

 related thereto, such as ice-cream thickeners or fillers, butter colors 

 and flavors, malted milks, lactated infant foods, and other articles of 

 minor importance. The total number of samples examined was 422, 

 of which 372 were official interstate and import samples, the remain- 

 ing 50 being of miscellaneous origin and consisting chiefly of samples 

 examined for other departments of the Government. A classified list 

 of the samples examined is as follows: 



Evaporated milks 129 



Sweetened coudeused milks iii) 



Cheese 84 



Butter G4 



Dry uiilks 14 



Fresh milks :57 



Cream 21 



OleomarRnrins 12 



Ice creams 3 



Ice-cream thickeners 5 



Malted milks-aud lactated foods 4 



Miscellnncuus, butter colors, butter tlavoi-s, artificial cream, etc 10 



Total 422 



The greater part of the work under the food law during the year 

 was ui)on eva))orated, condensed, fresh and dry milks, cheese, and 

 butter. In canned evaporated milks the most connnon fault is that of 

 low concentration — thin milk. Several shipments have been seized 

 because of low concentration and the goods condemned bv the court. 



A number of j^rosecutions have been brought on the misbranding 

 of American cheddar cheese, showing excessive shortage in weight. 

 The stenciled or pencil-marked weights placed on the boxes at the 

 factory are too often assumed to be correct, without check or modi- 

 fication, even after the product has been for months in storage. P^ven 

 if (he factory weights were originally correct, which should not be 

 blindly assumed, it is evident that a considerable shortage may occur 

 when goods fresh from the factory are stored for .several months 

 and then sold on tlie original nuirked weights. 



Another form of misbianding cheese is found in the labeling of 

 "skims" or "part skims." In two cases the term "light skim" was 



