OFFICIAL INSPECTIONS 2^ . lOI 



from subsidiary products and represent the actual compounds 

 whose names they bear. 



In the table coal tar colors are not always reported and cara- 

 mel is only named in cases where there are special reasons for 

 so doing. Not all the samples were tested for artificial color 

 but enough of the different kinds from each bottler were tested 

 to determine the nature of the dyes being used. Cases where 

 unpermitted colors were used are being investigated. It is 

 probable that the trouble is not so much with the bottlers as 

 with the parties from whom the colors were purchased by the 

 bottlers. 



Alcohol. Ciders, root beers, ginger ales, and most of the 

 proprietory articles were tested for alcohol and in many in- 

 stances they were found to carry quite a large amount. At 

 least, much more than is supposed to be present in an orcHnary 

 soft drink. The Maine Food and Drug Law does not require 

 the naming of alcohol in foods. The flavor of some of these 

 bottled soft beverages .is dependent to a more or less extent 

 upon the amount of alcohol present, and constant use of some 

 of these containing approximately one per cent of alcohol, 

 would quite readily be a means of developing a taste for alco- 

 holic beverages. 



In one instance bottled goods w^ere labeled "Nerve Tonic." 

 This would seem to imply that they were of medicinal value, 

 and, as in mecHcines the percentage of alcohol must be stated, 

 i^ was apparently adulterated and misbranded. 



Saccharine. Something over 30 years ago, in an American 

 laboratory, there was discovered a coal tar derivative which 

 was found to be excessively sweet. This chemical, generally 

 known in commerce as saccharine, is, roughly speaking, 500 

 times as sweet as sugar. This means that one pound of saccha- 

 rine will sweeten as much water as 500 pounds of sugar. One 

 whose taste is at all acute saccharine would never deceive, and 

 for this reason, there is usually more or less sugar used in con- 

 nection with it. In the bottled sodas here reported where 

 saccharine has been found, sometimes only a slight amount is 

 used and nearly or fully as much sugar occurs as is found in 

 some of the cheaper soda waters which do not contain saccha- 

 rine. In other instances, however, not more than a half or 

 perhaps a third as much sugar is used as would be required in 

 making a soda water sufficiently sweet, and the remainder is 



