TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 491 



REGULATION RELATING TO THE OPERATION OF THE 

 BABCOCK TEST. 



For the purpose of providing official supervision of the operation of the 

 Babcock test in all licensed receiving stations, conducted for the purchase 

 of butterfat, either in the form of cream or milk, to promote fair competi- 

 tion, and to protect the producer of butterfat, thereby giving more con- 

 fidence to the producer, in the system of determining the per cent of but- 

 terfat in cream or milk, the following regulation has been promulgated: 



"That all individuals, corporations and partnerships, authorized by 

 license or permit to conduct the Babcock test in the state of Iowa, shall 

 retain within the premises the exact, properly labeled samples of cream 

 or milk from which the butterfat test has been conducted, until 6 P. M. 

 of the day following the application of the test, where daily testing is 

 practiced, and until 6 P. M. of the second day following the application of 

 the test where composite testing of individual deliveries is practiced. In 

 case of Sundays and legal holidays intervening, the samples shall be held 

 one additional day. 



"Upon such occasions as may be determined wise, this department or 

 its inspectors may order any sample or samples held for a longer perioa 

 than provided for by these regulations. 



"This ruling will be effective on and after June 1, 1920." 



The foregoing regulation will be of particular interest to a large num- 

 ber of Iowa merchants, especially those in the smaller cities and towns, 

 where the buying of cream is extensively practiced by grocers, butchers, 

 and other merchants. 



The ruling is designed as a protection for the producer and the pur- 

 chaser alike. Buyers who operate the test honestly and efficiently and 

 pay accordingly, will welcome a measure of this kind. It will be found 

 particularly valuable as a means of checking up station shortages. The 

 object of such a ruling requiring samples to be held is to enable an in- 

 spector of the Dairy and Food Department to check up disputed tests. 

 The territories of the department inspectors are so arranged that practi- 

 cally all of them can reach certain points in their territories within 

 twenty-four hours, and thus if a complaint is made that a certain buyer is 

 over or under reading the Babcock test, by using the telephone, it will 

 usually be possible to have an inspector on the ground to check up the 

 test before the termination of the period which it must be held. 



YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER. 



The grocer perhaps as much as any other merchant unintentionally 

 violates the law because he fails to familiarize and post himself upon the 

 laws of his State and Country. 



He should know when an article of food is offered to him, whether it is 

 labeled to comply with the law, both as to net weight and composition. 



The net weight must be stated plainly on all packages of foods, in terms 

 of the largest denomination i. e., a package weighing 18 oz. should be 

 labeled 1 lb. 2 oz. 



