I02 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO. 



made up with saccharine. This does not make sodas of good 

 quality, but does make very unfair competition. 



Investigation thus far made would seem to indicate that 

 much of the saccharine used by Maine bottlers was on the 

 advice of salesmen of manufacturers and dealers in this chem- 

 ical. They have represented that it improved the flavor and 

 quality of the goods. That this is not so and is a misrepre- 

 sentation on the part of the salesman is evidenced by the fact 

 that the best bottlers of high grade goods use only sugar and 

 pure flavors. If an artificial sweetener of any kind is used that 

 fact must be clearly stated on the label. It is held that the 

 words "sweetener added" are not sufficient to indicate to the 

 purchaser that a chemical substitute for sugar has been em- 

 ployed. The words "artificial" or "imitation" must appear 

 upon the label in this connection. 



Bottled sodas as ordinarily made, consisting of water, flavored, 

 colored, sweetened and charged with gas, are not primarily used 

 as foods ; nevertheless when sugar is used as the sweetener they 

 do possess a definite food value and when saccharine is substi- 

 tuted for the sugar they possess none. When sugar is used the 

 sodas contain about the same proportion of solids as milk and 

 while they cannot be compared to milk with respect to the fat 

 and protein content, the sugar of sodas is quite comparable to 

 the sugar contained in good milk. When substituting saccha- 

 rine for sugar in bottled sodas, the manufacturer takes from 

 the beverage the only constituent which has any value as a 

 food and puts in its place a chemical which has no food value. 



Fictitious and Incorrect Firm Names. During this investi- 

 gation it was found to be an altogether too common practice for 

 bottlers to use bottles bearing blown in the glass the names of 

 other manufacturers. This is probably not done to deceive the 

 public in any way but is through carelessness and a greater con- 

 venience. This is misbranding under the law and justly so. 

 It is a great injustice to a manufacturer of high grade goods 

 to have his bottles filled by makers of low grade, artificially 

 sweetened and flavored sodas. 



In the present investigations these cases were not even re- 

 ported in all instances, and no hearings were appointed in 

 regard to this phase of the question. A reasonable time will 

 be given for the bottlers of the State to straighten out this par- 

 ticular matter. Unless the practice is discontinued, the execu- 



