The Bulletin. 



77 



OF SWEET OlL,S~Continued. 



There are many substitutes for vinegar, such as malt vinegar, com- 

 pound vinegar, spirit vinegar, etc., and must he sold as such and not 

 as vinegar. One of the greatest violations of the Food Law at present 

 is the sale of these substitutes for vinegar. A. customer orders or asks 

 a grocery man for vinegar and he is furnished with one of the above 

 substitutes for vinegar without explanation as to its real character. 



Under this head 104 samples were examined, 26 of which were either 

 adulterated, misbranded or misrepresented. In many cases m'anufac- 

 turers and jobbers sell retail dealers vinegar without further specifying 

 the kind of vinegar. Then to protect themselves against the national 

 food law, they brand it distilled vinegar, compound vinegar, etc., as 

 the case may be. The dealer receives the goods without specially no- 

 ticing the label, thinking that he has vinegar, and proceeds to sell it 

 for same. On the other hand, it appears that often when substitutes 

 for vinegar are sold for, invoiced and labeled just what they are, the 

 dealer imposes on his customers by selling them these products for 

 vinegar. To just what extent the dealers are deceived in regard to the 

 products they handle, it is difficult to say, but one thing is true to be 

 .sure: much of the so-called vinegar on the market is invoiced and 

 branded just what it actually is, but is sold by the retail dealers for 

 vinegar, which it is not. Whether the retail dealer is actually deceived 

 in the matter or not is difficult to say and makes but little difference to 

 the consumer. The latter gets a poor substitute for vinegar though 

 the dealer gets his money just the same. 



