310 



COMPOSITION OF BUTTER 



material is used with intent or effect of causing the absorption 

 of abnormal quantities of water, milk, or cream; that " process 

 butter " or " renovated butter " is hereby denned to mean 

 butter which has been subjected to any process by which it is 

 melted, clarified or refined and made to resemble genuine butter, 

 always excepting ' adulterated butter ' as defined by this 

 Act." 



The ruling made by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Labor fixes the legal 

 standard of moisture in butter as 15.99 per cent. According to 



this ruling, butter that contains 16 

 per cent would be classified as adul- 

 terated butter. No allowance is 

 made for chemical errors in testing. 

 While the chemists allow .2 per cent 

 for error, the Internal Revenue, in 

 enforcing this ruling, makes no such 

 allowance. In some districts the 

 courts have sustained the Internal 

 Revenue Department; in other dis- 

 tricts they have not. Some judges 

 have ruled that the Congress of the 

 United States is the only body that 

 has the power to fix definite stand- 

 ards for food products. No doubt 

 the Act of May 9, 1902, refers to 



methods that were used at that tune for the purpose of incor- 

 porating abnormal quantities of water. 



Compounds for Increasing Yield of Butter. The Internal 

 Revenue ruling is based entirely upon the " adulterated " 

 act. Prior to the adoption of the law of 1902 no attempt was 

 made by the government to enforce any regulations concerning 

 the manufacture of butter. At this early period various com- 

 pounds were used for increasing the yield of butter. 



In 1893 the United States Department of Agriculture pub- 

 lished Farmer's Bulletin No. 12, " Nostrums for Increasing 

 Yield of Butter," by Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of 



FIG. 126. Ice-crusher. 



