18 FOOD LAWS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



and treacle, wines (nonalcoholic), yeast, mustard, coffee, tea, vinegar, 

 ginger, ice cream, canned meats, oat meal, rice, etc. 



The commissioners of customs examined during the year ending 

 December 31, 1908, under section 30 of the sale of food and drugs act, 

 1875, 4,347 samples of tea, of which 3,840 were satisfactory. 1 During 

 the year 1909, 7,647 samples of the tea were examined, of which 7,089 

 were considered satisfactory. The tea which examination shows to be 

 unsatisfactory is either exported or, sometimes, allowed entry as the 

 raw product for the manufacture of caffein. 



In the United Kingdom the importation of tea is controlled by 

 the customs officials, and they decide whether or not the importations 

 are fit for entry. The control of tea importations into the United 

 Kingdom is under section 30 of the sale of food and drugs act, 1875, 

 and aims at preventing the entry of all tea unfit for food. In the 

 United States tea dust is allowed entry for the manufacture of caffein 

 under a specific act of Congress. 2 



As an interesting comparison, and in order to indicate the extent 

 to which inspection at ports in the United States has developed 

 under the food and drugs act, the following quotation from the 

 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1909 (p. 35) will suffice: 



Of imported products the branch laboratories examined 8,476 samples, about 2,500 

 of which were sent to Washington for reexamination. In addition, more than 79,000 

 samples of imported goods were submitted to floor inspection at ports of entry, without 

 examination in the laboratory. 



DAIRY PRODUCTS. 



With respect to the control of dairy products, butter, condensed 

 milk, fresh milk, cream, margarine cheese, and margarine at the 

 ports, His Majesty's customs operating under section 1 of the sale 

 of food and drugs act, 1899, and section 5 of the butter and margarine 

 act, 1907, collected and examined during the year ending December 

 31, 1908, 1,920 samples, of which 1,169 were butter and 120 samples 

 condensed milk, including dried milk, and of this number 3 had 

 been called "machine skimmed milk" or "skimmed milk" as re- 

 quired by section 1 (1) (c) of the sale of food and drugs act, 1899. 

 Five hundred and eight samples of margarine were drawn and 11 

 found to contain over the legal amount of 16 per cent of water. 

 During the year ending December 31, 1909, the officers of the board 

 of customs and excise at the ports in the United Kingdom, with a 



1 To illustrate the extent of the tea inspection at the ports, for the year ending Mar. 1, 1908, 3,952 samples 

 of tea were examined at the ports, representing an importation of 317,065,320 pounds. 



2 Regulation of importation of teas, Rev. Stat., sec. 7698-7707, U. S. Stat. L. (1907-1909), p. 163 (chap. 170). 

 While these are specific laws on our statute books controlling the importation of tea, yet the Attorney I 



General has rendered an opinion in which he holds that these acts governing the importation of tea must 

 be read as one with the food and drugs act, June 30, 1906. 



Quite recently cooperation between the Treasury Department and the Department of Agriculture has 

 been established looking to the application of the food law to importations of tea. 



