OFFICIAL INSPECTIONS /8. 49 



STATEMENT BY THE EXECUTIVE OF THE LAW. 



A. M. G. Soule, Chief, Bureau of Inspections. 



Ever since the inauguration of the pure food law, the subject 

 of regulating the sale of oysters, clams and scallops has 

 demanded considerable attention and, during the last season, 

 rather an unusual effort has been made to remedy the conditions 

 as evidenced by the tabulations reporting the analyses of the 

 samples collected, employing the usual methods of education, 

 moral suasion and finally — in a few instances — prosecution. 



Generally speaking, the oyster situation is greatly improved 

 and in only a very few instances has it been noted that scallops 

 were being sold in serious violation of the law, but in the sale of 

 clams we have detected numerous cases of adulteration and it is 

 to be greatly regretted that the sale of this commodity seems 

 extremely hard to regulate ; the statute employed for such regu- 

 lation io found in section eleven of P. L., 191 1, chapter 119, and 

 reads : 



"For the purpose of this act an article shall be deemed to be 

 adulterated, in the case of food, if any substance has been mixed 

 and packed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously 

 affect its quality and strength." 



It is generally well known by clam diggers and dealers that 

 if clams are allowed to remain — if only for a few hours — in 

 fresh water they will become considerably swollen and their 

 quality impaired, as soaking clams — as well as oysters — in fresh 

 water makes them plumper and larger, increases them in weight 

 and size and, therefore, the profits of the dealer, but does not 

 add to the value as a food product; and at their best, without 

 adulteration, clams as a nourishing food cannot be considered of 

 any very great importance and should be regarded as a condi- 

 mental substance. 



The principle of this' process of floating or soaking is that a 

 soft substance like a clam, having in its composition a mineral 

 salt, when brought in contact with fresh water a process of dif- 

 fusion takes place whereby water passes through the cell walls, 

 enters the cells of the clam and the mineral substance is forced 

 out, consequently the increased weight and size by the addition 

 of water at the expense of the natural flavor. By the laboratory 



