April, 1913. 



MAINE 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 



ORONO, MAINE. 



CHAS. D. WOODS, Director 



ANALYSTS 



James M. Bartlett Herman H. Hanson 



Royden L. Hammond Edward E. Sawyer 



Helen W. Averill Elmer R. Tobey 



Official Snsfpectiong 



49 



PROTECTIOX OF FOOD OFFERED FOR SALE. 



A\ hen the first Food Laws were passed there were in the 

 minds of the people two distinct kinds of abuses to be cor- 

 rected. One, the adulteration of foods with poisonous, harm- 

 ful, and deleterious substances, and the other the substitution 

 of inferior materials and the extravagant claims and false 

 statements made upon the labels. One was a fraud against 

 the health, the other against the pocket book of the consumer. 

 Since that time, however, and comparatively recently, a third 

 feature has come to be recognized under the Food Laws, and 

 this is the question of sanitation in connection with the ex- 

 posure and sale of foods. This third feature is perhaps the 

 most important point which can be considered under the Food 

 Laws of this or any other state. The actual mixing with 

 foods of harmful, deleterious and poisonous substances was 

 comparatively rare and has been practically stopped; the use 

 of extravagant and untruthful statements upon labels has been 

 very much reduced, but unsanitary conditions have been and 

 are a constant source of contamination. 



