12 BULLETIN 196, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



THE LABEL. 



The label should tell the truth in terms which are direct and easily understood. 

 It should give the name of the article, the grade, by whom packed and where packed, 

 or the name of the distributor. Neither the names nor the illustrations used should 

 be misleading. A picture of green peas in pods in clear relief and subdued type stat- 

 ing that the contents are soaked is hardly appropriate. If given a geographical name 

 it must be the true one. Corn grown in Iowa is not Maine corn though obtained from 

 Maine seed. The use of such terms as "Maine style " for cream corn is in reality only 

 an attempt to circumvent the intent of a true label. 



There are no fixed standards for canned goods, though the canner and the trade 

 do recognize and describe certain qualities in jobbing, and prices are made accord- 

 ingly. The consumer has not been educated to know these differences. The labels 

 usually carry descriptive terms implying superlative quality, as extra select, extra 

 choice, extra fancy, select, choice, fancy, extra standard, and, less commonly, stand- 

 ard. There are too many designations for the same product, and, furthermore, Mr. 

 A's fancy may not be the same as Mr. B's. The grade may not be the same in two 

 consecutive seasons, owing to drought, excess of rain, intense heat, or other cause; 

 neither may it mean the same in different sections of the country in a normal year. 

 In other words, at the present time the grade does not have a fixed character. 



Again, when the sirup is one of the factors in grading a product, that fact should 

 be given, though it is not required. A consumer can not go to the grocery and buy 

 peaches in a 40°, 30°, or 20° sirup, though the packers use care in preparing such 

 sirups to use for their different grades. Such designations as heavy, medium, and 

 light sirup are also inadequate. A heavy sirup may mean anything between 35° and 

 60°, a medium between 20° and 45°, and a light between 10° and 30°, depending on 

 who uses it. These variations are too wide to be carried under such elastic terms. 

 There is no doubt that some fruit packed in light or 20° sirup is just as good as that 

 put up in medium or 30° sirup, but there can be no harm done by giving the exact 

 facts. On general principles, if it is worth while for the packer to select his stock 

 carefully and put up different grades, the consumer should know how to select them. 



A can of any food should be as full as it can reasonably be packed and processed 

 without injuring either the quality or appearance of the product. There is such a 

 thing as overfilling as well as underfilling, and one is as much a fault as the other. 

 All foods packed in a liquid or semiliquid condition, or as solids surrounded by liquid, 

 should fill to within one-half inch of the top, and when free liquid is present it should 

 cover the solids. Corn or peas an inch below the top would be a slack fill, even though 

 covered with liquid. The fruits present a more perplexing problem, depending 

 upon the size of the pieces and the degree to which they shrink in the sirup. The 

 very choice large peaches, having only 5 or 6 pieces to the can, will weigh only 18 or 

 19 ounces and be as full as they can be sealed. A slightly smaller size, of 7 to 9 pieces 

 to the can, will weigh 20 ounces, and for more than 10 pieces the weight will be 

 from 21 to 22 ounces. After they have been cooked in the sirup the pieces will soften, 

 the weight will change, and the fill will not be the same, though in all the amount 

 was as much as could be sealed. If the cans be judged upon weight of the solids 

 alone, the highest grade would be short weight; the quality must also be considered. 

 The presence of only 18 or 19 ounces of low-grade peaches would be manifestly slack 

 filled. Soft berries, like strawberries and raspberries, if filled as full as the can will 

 hold and sirup or water added, will appear only one-third to one-half full of solids upon 

 opening and considerable variation will occur, depending upon their condition. 

 Some foods can be packed so as to give a fairly uniform net weight upon opening, but 



