PATHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE DISTRIBUTION 
OF PERISHABLE PLANT PRODUCTS' 
Cy. L.- SHEAR 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
Under our present social and economic conditions, public interest 
is being aroused and directed to questions and problems which have 
been largely overlooked or neglected in less strenuous times. The 
conservation of our natural resources, especially our food products, 
greatly to our discredit as a nation, has, until very recently, been too 
largely neglected. Max O’Rell is said to have made the statement 
some years ago that Europe could be fed on what America wastes. 
This statement is probably somewhat exaggerated, but unfortunately 
has too many facts to support it. 
At present, these questions, so far as food products are concerned, 
are of vital importance, not merely figuratively but literally. We 
wish to call attention here to loss and waste occurring in connection 
with the distribution of fruits and vegetables. 
A large proportion of the fruit and truck crops grown never reach 
the consumer. Part of this loss occurs on the farm and in the orchard, 
and part in transit and distribution. Adams* in his recent work on 
marketing perishable farm products, asserts that at least 25 percent 
of the perishables which arrive at the wholesale markets is hauled to 
the dump pile because it is unfit for human consumption. This 
statement we fear is not based upon sufficient data to be accepted. 
It is, however, the opinion of one writer on the subject. 
In 1910, according to Dr. Pennington,’ the New York Board of 
Health condemned and destroyed over twelve million pounds of fruit 
and over seven million pounds of vegetables. This presumably does 
not represent the total loss, as a considerable amount probably escaped 
detection. It is easy to see that such great destruction of food 
1 Published by permission of the Secretary of Agriculture. 
2 Adams, Arthur B. Marketing perishable farm products. Studies in history, 
economics, and public law, Columbia University. 72°: 25. New York. 1916. 
3 Pennington, Mary E. Proper handling of foodstuffs from farm to market. 
In Report of the Mayor’s Market Commission of New York City, p. 257, New York, 
1913. 
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