218 ANNUAL FiEPOPtTS OF DEPAKTMENT OF AGPJCULTURE. 



mately as tlie official product. A public statement through the serv- 

 ice and regulatory announcements has therefore been made that re- 

 lease in such cases will be conditioned not only on proper relabeling 

 but also on definite information that the goods will be manufactured 

 by a specified firm into products for which their use is approved. 



Special attention has been given to medicinal preparations bear- 

 ing statements of therapeutic or curative effect. The printed matter 

 used with each preparation has been carefully reviewed by the 

 bureau's medical staff in Washington, with a view to exhibiting a 

 uniform and consistent attitude toward all such products. Copies 

 of the comments made, with information regarding the labeling, 

 have been transmitted on cards to all the port stations, thereby in- 

 suring perfectly uniform action. A distinction has been made be- 

 tween products intended for sale to the general public and those 

 intended for physicians' use which are so labeled as not to affect 

 the general public, properly confining all statements as to thera- 

 peutic use to an inclosed circular, leaving the outside label entirely 

 free from such statements. 



During 1918 many shipments of dried-egg products, yolk and 

 albumen, coming from China, were found to contain notable quan- 

 tities of zinc or zinc compounds. Such contamination occurred be- 

 cause these products were dried in zinc or zinc-lined trays, or, 

 in some instances, in large plants, on zinc belts. During^ 1919 the 

 shipments of yolk, some of them representing large lots manufac- 

 tured by the spray process, have been found practically free from 

 zinc. In the early part of the yenv several shipments of albumen 

 w^ere detained because of the presence of zinc, but during the 

 latter pai-t of the year a number of shipments, mostly small in 

 amount but from a number of different manufacturers, have been 

 found satisfactory. This would indicate that several firms in China 

 have so changed their methods of manufacture that they can supply 

 goods free from zinc, and will shortly be able to meet the demand for 

 dried egg albumen and yolk, used in increasing quantities by bakers 

 and manufacturers of bakers' supplies. 



The last few months of the year saw the beginning of the resump- 

 tion of normal trade in foods, notably olive oil, which had been sub- 

 ject to embargo in most countries. Large quantities, almost suffi- 

 cient for normal demand, have come from Spain, and have caused 

 the price to drop to nearly normal figures. In the past, Spain has 

 furnished directly comparatively little olive oil to this country. 

 The bureau's inspection has shown no instances of adulteration. 

 The first few shipments have also been received of those particular 

 foodstuffs from England, France, and Italy, that normally are im- 

 ported in large quantities, but which ceased to come in during the 

 last two years of the war. The first shipment of Smyrna figs re- 

 ceived since the war began arrived during the last month of the year. 



SUGARS, SUGAR DERIVATIVES, SIRUP. 



Processes for the preparation of the sugar xylose, of gum indus- 

 trially valuable as an adhesive, and of other useful substances from 

 corncobs have been patented and made available to the public. De- 

 velopment work now being performed upon these processes offers a 



