INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FEEDSTUFFS 23 



It is apparently more than a coincidence that Canadian Refuse Screen- 

 ings appeared on the New Enjrland scene at about the same time this 

 product was barred from the State of Washington. At present about 

 2000 tons of Canadian Refuse Screenings are entering the State of Ver- 

 mont each m.onth. 



The Canadian Feed Law h'mits the amount of certain named ground 

 seeds that are considered injurious, including the seeds of the Mustard 

 family, to 1 per cent. The number of certain named vital noxious weed 

 seeds is limited to 15 per ounce. 



The worst sample cf Canadian Refuse Screenings examined in Mass- 

 achusetts was found to contain about 60 per cent whole and ground weed 

 seeds, 35 per cent chaff and 5 per cent dirt. It contained about 10 per 

 cent of seeds cf the Mustard family, and about 2900 whole weed seeds 

 per ounce. These seeds are named in the Canadian Feed Law as noxious 

 weed seeds. Germination tests show about 50 per cent of these seeds to be 

 viable. 



A letter from H. B. Sifton of the Department of Botany, University 

 of Toronto, who had a great deal to do with the drafting of the Canadian 

 Feed Law, states: "We did satisfv ourselves, when the Canadian Feeds 

 Act was being considered (about 1919), that grain grown in the Canadian 

 west contained a sufificient quantity' of poisonous seed to make the screen- 

 ings distinctly harmful, and that when the weed seeds screened from our 

 Western wheat were ground up, as was the custom at that time, and 

 mixed with the bran and middlings, the mixture was often poisonous." 



The following statement appears in a letter from the Health of Animals 

 and Plant Products Division of the Canadian Government: "There are 

 only a few weed seeds which are injurious to the health of livestock and, 

 of course, the most important of these are seeds of the mustard family. 

 Ten per cent of mustard seed included in feedstuffs will cause intestinal 

 and other trouble within a few days. Two or three per cent will not cause 

 any noticeable injury unless fed for a considerable period of time." 



Referring to the whole weed seeds found in Canadian Refuse Screenings, 

 among others whole seeds of pennycress or stinkweed are usuallv present 

 in large numbers. Quoting Nebraska Bulletin 101 entitled "Nebraska 

 Weeds": "Pennycress is very aggressive, getting an early start in spring. 

 It crowds and shades out the other plants that get a later start. It seeds 

 very profusely even in grassland. When eaten by dairy cattle, pennycress 

 imparts a bitter garlicky flavor and odor to the milk and cream and all 

 products manufactured from the tainted milk. This odor cannot be re- 

 moved by any known process and has made thousands of pounds of butter 

 and other dair^' products unsalable. Pennycress is a dreaded weed in the 

 Northwest." 



It doesn't require much imagination to visualize what serious infestation 

 with pennycress might do to our New England pastures. 



In Massachusetts we have prohibited the sale of Canadian Refuse 

 Screenings under the provision of the Massachusetts Feed Law which 

 forbids the sale of feeds mixed or adulterated with any substance injurious 

 to health of livestock or poultry. 



It would seem that the most effective way to deal with this problem on 

 a regional basis would be to have the Food and Drug Administration of 

 the Federal Securitv Ac^ency bar the admission of this material. Under 

 Section 801 (a)2 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act under Chap- 

 ter 8 covering Imports and Exports we find that "If it appears from the 

 examination of such samples or otherwise that .... such article is forbid- 

 den or restricted in sale in the country in which it was produced or from 

 which it was exported .... then such article shall be refused admission." 

 There is not the slightest doubt that the lots of Canadian Refuse Screenings 

 examined in Massachusetts are lots that would have been barred from 

 sale in Canada under the Canadian Feed Law. 



