552 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



have been endeavoring to secure relief by interpreting a section 

 of the Sanitary Law, which did pass, to include ice cream con- 

 tainers. The Section reads as follows: "That receptacles used 

 in connection with the distribution of a food product shall be 

 kept clean at all times." 



Of those reporting on the condition of returned ice cream con- 

 tainers, since the enactment of the Sanitary Law, 60 per cent 

 report distinctly no change for the better ; 40 per cent report 

 that they have noticed containers are coming back in better con- 

 dition than they were previous to that time. This report of the 

 40 per cent is particularly gratifying to the Department in view 

 of the fact that there is nothing specific in the law to cover this 

 phase of the ice cream manufacturer's trouble, and we feel that 

 with this 60 per cent as a basis of comparison, the Department 

 should be in a position to more forcibly impress on the minds of 

 the legislators, the need of particular legislation along this line 

 at their next session. 



In order to get the attitude of the ice cream manufacturers, 

 we asked for an expression, in regard to having made punishable 

 by a fine, the neglect in washing ice cream containers thoroughly 

 as soon as emptied. Almost without exception reports came in 

 favoring such a measure. The Department is very much in favor 

 of a law that will enforce the cleaning of containers as soon as 

 emptied, first, from a sanitary standpoint; second, because there 

 is a great deal of loss to the ice cream factory, due to the fact 

 that cans rust out and become absolutely useless on account of 

 retailers failing to clean them when emptied ; third, because we 

 believe that if consumers come to realize that it is a misde- 

 meanor, punishable by fine to have dirty containers in their pos- 

 session, they will take more pains to clean the can and return it 

 jjromptly, and that it will also result in transportation companies 

 being more careful to retur containers as soon as they came into 

 their possession. 



We are pleased to state to the public that in the last few years, 

 the last two in particular, the ice cream makers have voluntarily 

 made great improvements in the sanitary conditions in and sur- 

 rounding their factories. We believe that the ice cream makers 

 are making more rapid strides toward sanitary and inviting 

 conditions than any other branch of the food manufacturing 

 industry. 



