84 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO. 



All food products exposed for sale that are not afterwards 

 cooked before being eaten should be protected from dust and 

 flies. Meat carried by the itinerant meat-vender, and exposed 

 in the open, attracts not only the germ laden house fly but blow- 

 flies as well, which deposit their living young upon the food. 

 If the meat be thoroughly cooked afterwards the maggots in 

 themselves are not dangerous to health, though their presence 

 in the food is anything but inviting. 



The distribution of unprotected bread and pastry from the 

 open shelves of carts driven through the dusty streets, the hand- 

 ling of these products by the driver who has handled the dirty, 

 perspiring horse and the dirty, greasy harness, is a practice 

 which could be easily improved by having all such material 

 wrapped in paper before leaving the bakery. 



The proprietors of places where food is either prepared or 

 dispensed should without question see that the above conditions 

 are maintained. 



Each customer should insist that the dealer from whom food 

 supplies are purchased maintain the above sanitary conditions. 



OYSTERS. 



In Ofiicial Inspections 15, page 152, the following standards 

 for oysters were published : 



Opened oysters sold in bulk should not contain ice or added 

 water; nor more than 17 per cent by weight of free liquid; nor 

 less than lo per cent by weight of total dry solids. 



This standard does not apply to oysters sold in the shell nor 

 to oysters opened at time of sale. 



Other states have since adopted the same standards, and the 

 National Board of Food and Drug Inspection, in Decision no, 

 which became operative May i, 1910, has forbidden the sale or 

 shipment in interstate commerce of oysters to which water has 

 been added either directly or in the form of melted ice. It 

 should be borne in mind by all dealers, shippers, and transporta- 

 tion companies that these regulations should be strictly followed. 



