AMEBICAN-GEOWN PAPEIKA. 3 



that the name rarely refers to the grades supposed to be prepared 

 from the walls of the fruit, but rather to those which are made by 

 grinding the whole pod, including the seeds and placenta?. The 

 paprika occurring in American trade has reflected this character in 

 response to the taste of the consumer and his varying ability to pay 

 the price. 



Under authority of the act of Congress of May 3, 1903, providing 

 for the establishment of standards of purity for food products, a 

 set of definitions of foods and drugs and their products was framed 

 and issued as Circular 19 from the Office of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture on June 26, 1906. In this circular (p. 11) paprika was defined 

 as follows: " Paprika is the dried ripe fruit of Capsicum annuum L. 

 or some other large-fruited species of Capsicum, excluding seeds and 

 stems." This limited the applicability of the term to its narrowest 

 sense and excluded from the definition all except the more expensive, 

 relatively nonpungent grades. The pods when ground with the seed 

 came under the definition of red pepper, given in the same circular 

 (p. 11) as follows: "Red pepper is the red, dried ripe fruit of any 

 species of Capsicum." 



Later, however, this condition of affairs seems to have been some- 

 what modified, since in reply to a note of inquiry from the Chief of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry concerning the status of American- 

 grown paprika Dr. H. W. Wiley, as chairman of the Board of Food 

 and Drug Inspection, on November 25, 1908, said: 



The Board of Food and Drug Inspection has considered the letter addressed 

 to it by you, under date of November 12, concerning the marketing of paprika 

 grown in this country. The board is of the opinion that the department will 

 take no action in the case of paprika made by grinding whole pods — that is, 

 the shells and seeds exclusive of the stem — when the product is sold uuder the 

 name of " paprika," but the paprika thus ground should not consist of a larger 

 amount of seeds than are normal to the pods with which the seeds are ground. 



In view of the fact that the seeds of paprika have a nutty, oily 

 flavor which influences the condimental quality of the product, this 

 practical extension of the definition of paprika made it possible for 

 consumers to secure under the name of paprika a greater variety of 

 condiment than before. 



Since paprika has heretofore been exclusively an imported product, 

 the question arose as to whether in a legal sense the name had acquired 

 any geographical significance likely to interfere with the use of the 

 name " paprika " for the American product. In answer to an inquiry 

 on this point, Dr. Wiley, as Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, on 

 March 8, 1907, wrote : 



In my opinion the word " paprika " has no geographical significance and may 

 be applied to the pepper in question, no matter where grown. I can see no 

 objection, therefore, to its use upon pepper which has been grown from the 

 Hungarian seed in the United States. 



