LARD AND LARD ADULTERATIONS. 547 



SUMMARY. 



I Lave endeavored to set forth in the preceding pages our present 

 knowledge concerning the constitution of pure lard and its adultera- 

 tions. The question of the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the 

 various ingredients has not been raised in these investigations. It is 

 hardly necessary to call attention, however, to the fact that the stear- 

 ines and cotton oils used in the manufacture of adulterated lard are, 

 so far as known, perfectly wholesome and innocuous. There is every 

 reason to believe these are fully as free from deleterious effects upon 

 the system as hog grease itself. 



A more serious question which is presented is the effect of selling 

 adulterated lard as pure lard or refined lard. To do this is a fraud upon 

 the consumer. Although it has been claimed by the large manufact- 

 urers of refined lard that the term refined is a trade-mark whose mean- 

 ing is perfectly well known by seller and purchaser, yet it can not be 

 denied that the meaning of the word refined in the above sense is gen- 

 erally unknown to the consumer. The idea conveyed to the ordinary 

 consumer by the word refined would be an article of superior purity 

 for which he would possibly be willing to pay an increased price. It is- 

 gratifying to know that since the investigations recorded above were 

 commenced the largest manufacturers of compound lard in this country 

 have decided to abandon the use of the term refined and to sell their 

 lards as compound lard or lard compounds, and, in cases where no hog 

 gre'ase at all enters the composition of the article, to place it upon the 

 market as cottolene or cotton-seed oil product. 



In the cases before English courts cited above it is seen that the word 

 refined does not convey to the judicial mind the idea which is claimed 

 for it as a trade-mark, and hence the wisdom of the manufacturers in 

 changing the labeling of their wares is at once manifest. 



The extensive adulteration of American lards has afforded grounds 

 to foreign countries for prohibiting importation of our production or of 

 levying upon it a heavy duty. By requiring all food products made in 

 this country to be labelled and sold under their true name we could se- 

 cure for our products immunity from any such exclusion from foreign 

 countries as is mentioned above. The right of foreign countries to levy 

 an import duty on our products is one which we would in no measure 

 seek to abridge; yet by the recognized purity of our exported food ar- 

 ticles we should see that they secure a proper entrance into foreign 

 countries. These remarks are not alone applicable to lard and its adul- 

 terations, but to all kinds of food products, whether they are to be con- 

 sumed at home or abroad. 



