THlKTY-FOrKTH FRriT-GROWERS ' COX\'EXTIOX. 



119 



the removal of said preservative shall be printed on the covering or the package, the 

 provisions of this Act shall be construed as applying only when said products are 

 ready for consumption. 



No special concern on the part of those interested in fruit was felt, as 

 to the effect of the law as expressed in the Act. and was not until the 

 Board of Food and Drug Inspection suggested, and the Secretary of 

 Agriculture promulgated, on July 13, 1907. "Food Inspection Decision 

 76." This decision was deemed drastic in its terms and made a large 

 p(jrtion of the fruit dried in. and marketed from this State, contraband 

 under the law. It says : 



It is provided in Regulation 15 of the rules and regulations for the enforcement 

 of the food and druss act. that the Secretary of Asriculture shall determine by 

 chemical or other examinations those substances which are permitted or inhibited in 

 food products : that he shall determine from time to time the principles which shall 

 guide the use of colors, preservatives, and other substances added to foods : and that 

 when these findings and determinations of the Secretary of Agriculture are approved 

 by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the 

 principles so established shall become a part of the rules and regulations for the 

 enforcement of the food and drugs act. 



The law provides that no food or food product intended for interstate commerce, 

 nor any food or food product manufactured or sold in the District of Columbia or in 

 any Territory of the L'nited States, or for foreign commerce, except as hereinafter 

 provided, shall contain substances which lessen the wholesomeness. or which add any 

 deleterious properties thereto. It has been detemiined that no drug, chemical, or 

 harmful or deleterious dye or preservative may be used. Common salt, sugar, wood 

 smoke, potable distilled liquors, vinegar and condiments may be used. Pending 

 further investigation, the use of saltpeter is allowed. 



Pending the investigation of the conditions attending processes of manufacture, and 

 the effect upon health, of the combinations mentioned in this paragraph, the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture will institute no prosecution in the case of the application of 

 fumes of burning sulphur (sulphur dioxid). as usually employed in the manufacture 

 of those foods and food products which contain acetaldehyde. sugai*s, etc.. with \vhich 

 sulphurous acid may combine, if the total amount of sulphur dioxid in the finished 

 product does not exceed .>'»0 milligrams per liter in wines, or 350 milligrams per 

 kilogram in other food products, of which not over 70 milligrams is in a free state. 

 * * The label of each package of sulphured foods, or of foods containing sodium 

 benzoate or benzoic acid, shall l»ear a statement that the food is preserved with 

 sulphur dioxid. or with sodium benzoate, or benzoic acid, as the case may be, and 

 the label must not bear a serial number assigned to any guaranty filed with the 

 Department of Agriculture nor any statement that the article is guaranteed to con- 

 form to the food and drugs act. 



It is well known that sulphur is almost universally used in this State 

 in drying peaches, apricots, and pears, and to quite an extent in drying 

 plums and apples. It is admitted that the fruit when dried, in its raw 

 state, contains a greater percentage of "sulphur dioxid," produced by 

 the fumes of burning sulphur, than 350 milligrams per kilogram, or an 

 equivalent of 35-1000 of one per cent. Experience has shown that 

 the use of sulphur is a necessity, in order to produce dried fruit of the * 

 color and quality required for consmuption in any market. It has also 

 demonstrated that at the unit fixed by ruling 76. viz.. 35-1000 of one 

 per cent, the fruit would not keep for storage nor shipment to distant 

 markets, nor could it be dried without serious loss -from decay during 

 the drying process. A large part of the dried fruit cured in this State 

 did not come within the limit prescribed in Decision 76 and was there- 

 fore contraband, subject to seizure and confiscation as an imwholesome 

 and deleterious product. The decision provided that "pending investi- 

 gation of conditions attending processes of manufacture and the effects 

 on health." ^ -(-jiat the Department of Agriculture would 



institute no prosecutions against fruit containing sulphur dioxid when 

 prepared in the usual manner. 



This provision did not furnish sufficient assurance of safety, for 



