INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FEEDSTUFFS 3 



During the period covered by this bulletin especial attention has been paid to 

 ground oats and oat products. While Federal grades for whole oats may be of 

 value in the grain markets, they lend considerable confusion to the evaluating 

 of ground oat products. Under the standards oats may contain as low as 80 per 

 cent of sound cultivated oats. Feed oats and mixed feed oats may contain as 

 little as 30 per cent. The propriety of designating a mixture containing less than 

 50 per cent of oats as oats, even with a qualifying term, can be seriously questioned. 



In some instances oats of any grade when ground are designated as pure ground 

 oats. Feeding oatmeal, supposedly a pure ground oat groat, has been found not 

 only as a pure product but also made from a No. 4 oat which may contain as little 

 as 80 per cent of oats. There has also been found quite generally distributed a 

 so-called feeding oatmeal which contained not only a liberal amount of barley 

 but rice and tapioca waste as well. In the latter instance through the cooperation 

 of the Federal Food and Drug Administration several carloads were placed under 

 seizure and the shipper prosecuted in the Federal Courts. 



Included in the tables are the analyses of a number of dog foods. While the 

 Massachusetts statute does not cover the inspection of dog foods, samples col- 

 lected by our inspectors are reported as a matter of general interest. 



The Feeding Stuffs Act has been amended by the General Court to include the 

 following paragraph. 



An Act further regulating the contents of tags or labels on 



CERTAIN PACKAGES, LOTS OR PARCELS OF COMMERCIAL FEEDING STUFF. 



Be it enacted, etc., as follows: 



Section two hundred and twenty-five of chapter ninety-four of the General 

 Laws, as appearing in the Tercentenary Edition, is hereby amended by adding 

 at the end the following new paragraph: — 



If such a tag or label contains any claim of one or more dietary factors other 

 than those herein specified, such tag or label shall bear a legible and plainly 

 printed statement in the English language guaranteeing such claim. 



Approved March 15, 1939. 



