No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 49 



There is far more probability, in the present development of food 

 production and food law enforcement, that foods may be unsanitary 

 as the result of the conditions of raw materials, manufacturing pro- 

 cesses or modes of handling than that they may be made deleterious 

 to health by the addition of injurious ingredients. In making this 

 statement, the great effort at large expense is not overlooked which 

 many up-to-date producers and distributors have made with the ob- 

 ject of securing for their products the highest sanitary condition. 

 The point is that, with the sole exception of the Cold Storage Act, 

 there is no legal warrant for any inspection by the Dairy and Food 

 Commissioner of the conditions under which foods are produced, 

 manufactured, distributed, retailed, delivered, or served; much less 

 any warrant for control against unsanitary conditions during these 

 stages by which the food is brought to the consumer. 



In many of the American States there has been a progressive move- 

 ment toward the placing upon the several State Governments of the 

 duty of supervi.'!ion for the purpose of securing sanitary safe-guards 

 in the business of food making and food selling and serving. In 

 Pennsylvania, Section 6 of the General Food Law of 1905 is the only 

 portion of our body of food laws, other than the Cold Storage Act, 

 that refers to sanitary conditions of producing and handling; and its 

 terms are such as practically limit the proof of unsanitary surround- 

 ing methods of raw materials to the facts that can be established 

 from examination of the finished products, a kind of evidence that is 

 little suited to the purpose. p]ven when the fact of unsanitary con- 

 dition of the product is established the Courts may punish the seller 

 or the maker, if he can be reached, but there is no legal method by 

 which the public can be protected against the bad goods themselves. 

 They can not be legally seized and destroyed by any State official. 

 The sole exception to this statement, and only a possible exception, 

 is found in the requirement that bad eggs shall be denatured by the 

 addition of kerosene so that they may no longer be salable for food 

 purposes. 



These statements concerning the foregoing questions about the 

 Pennsylvania food laws, are made to correct widespread misunder- 

 standing concerning the duties they impose and the powers they 

 grant to the Dairy and Food Commissioner. 



POLICIES OF THE BUREAU 



The chief policy of the Bureau is to secure the objects of the law in 

 the manner most suitable to protect the public health and prevent 

 fraud, so far as the legally established methods make it possible. To 

 this end the selection and organization of the personnel of the Bureau 

 and the direction of its current activities are shaped. The laws hav- 

 ing fully warranted the facts of food conditions, are from time to 

 time brought carefully to the notice of the citizens through the 

 courtesy of the press and by the distribution of monthly bulletins to 



4—5—1914 



