970 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



RESULTS OF THE EXAMINATION OF COCOA PREPARATIONS IN THE 

 LABORATORY OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



As cocoa preparations are always sold in the original packages of 

 the manufacturer, the purchase of samples does not need to be con- 

 ducted with the care and precautions that are necessary in the case of 

 many other food materials. The samples examined were all purchased 

 in Washington, D. C., and represented very nearly all the brands 

 obtainable at the time the purchases were made. 



In accordance with the law that provides for these investigations, a 

 full description of each sample is given in the table on page 971. Each 

 description is accompanied by the laboratory index number and a con- 

 secutive number for use in reference to the table of results of analyses 

 that is given on page 980. 



In the column headed "Weight of package and cost" the size and 

 nature of the package and the purchase price paid in the retail market 

 are given. The price per pound as given in the next column is calcu- 

 lated from these data. In a few cases where the weight was not given 

 on the package the price per pound is only approximate and is placed 

 in parenthesis with an interrogation mark. 



The rather extended quotation of the manufacturer's descriptions of 

 the samples is necessary to do justice to the manufacturers of both 

 adulterated and unadulterated preparations. In several cases the addi- 

 tion of material that should otherwise be considered adulterants is duly 

 acknowledged on the package; in other cases no mention of the fact is 

 made or the statement implies that the sample is pure. 



The variety of preparations offered to American consumers is certainly 

 very great; so great, in fact, that a satisfactory classification of them is 

 hardly possible. In the following tables no classification was attempted, 

 further than a separation of plain and sweet chocolates into groups by 

 themselves : 



