For example, fifty or seventy-five years ago the commonly used chemical preservatives, salicylic and benzoic acids and saccharin were unknown and when they were resorted to by manufacturers of foodstuffs it was done secretly and without notice to the consumer. While the presence of a small amount of any one of these substances might not occasion any disturbance in a normal individual there are many instances in which even small amounts are absolutely contraindicated. Under commercial conditions existing previous to the passage of the act mentioned the buyer never could tell just what was contained in a package, which might be marked absolutely pure and be decorated with representations of dozens of medals and prize awards, often based upon superficial judgment of the products so honored.
The misbranding clause is Section 8 of the law and reads as follows:
“That the term ‘misbranded’ as used herein shall apply to all drugs or articles of food, or articles which enter into the composition of food, the package or label of which shall bear any statement, design or device regarding such article, or the ingredients or substances contained therein, which shall be false or misleading in any particular and to any food or drug product which is falsely branded as to the State, territory or country in which it is manufactured or produced.”
Since the act has become effective the products of certain large packing houses, which were formerly called potted ham or potted tongue are now labeled “potted meat, ham-flavor” and “potted meat, tongue-flavor.” The substance has not been changed. It is simply designated by its right name and all the claims for purity made by these firms in the past are now to be judged by the actions of these same firms when under compulsion and in fear of the law.
Several years ago a well-known Philadelphian became sponsor for a brand of coffee which was advertised and sold under the caption of “tannin-free coffee.” This purported to be coffee from which the poisonous (?) tannic acid had been removed. Investigation showed it to be coffee from which a chaff-like substance lying between the segments of the bean had been removed by mechanical means, and, as this chaff-like substance was found to contain less tannic acid than the original coffee, and, as the statement as to the tannic acid being poisonous was equally unwarranted, it was one of the most reprehensible of the class of what would now be termed misbranded substances.
As a matter of fact the tannic acid in coffee is in such intimate combination with the caffeine and other valuable constituents of the bean that it would be absolutely impossible to remove it without destroying the properties of the coffee so that it would be unrecognizable.
The ultimate fate of this article, which perished along with several associated ventures, did not prove a deterrent to another and still more glaring fraud of a similar character which has been advertised during the past year, i. e. a brand of coffee called “Digesto Coffee” which claims to be as harmless as the well-known cereal substitutes for this agreeable beverage by virtue of the fact that the poisonous (?) caffeine and poisonous (?) tannic acid have both been removed. I need scarcely say that such claims are without the slightest foundation in fact, and an analysis recently made by me of the contents of a package of the article showed a slightly higher percentage of caffeine than the average in coffee, and no perceptible diminution in the amount of tannic acid.
I refer to both of these instances specifically, as under all previous laws it was impossible to proceed against either of these firms, while under the new law they are both amenable to the section on misbranding.
As regards the subject of drugs, the work of Samuel Hopkins Adams in Collier’s Magazine, together with the assistance of Mr. Bok in the Ladies’ Home Journal, is too well-known to require repetition, and yet I fear that the force of these arguments is lost upon many persons who look upon them as the fulminations of yellow journalism. Nothing could be further from the truth. The half has never been told and the real truth will probably never be known by the public concerning the numerous changes which have been made in many well-known preparations which must now declare the presence of certain constituents which are enumerated in the body of the law. Among the better known of these substances may be mentioned alcohol, morphine, opium, cocaine, chloroform, chloral hydrate, cannabis indica and acetanilide.
Many proprietors of nostrums which have been entirely dependent upon their alcoholic strength for their medicinal and remedial effect, have changed the formulas so as to be less liable to criticism, still retaining enough of the original features, however, to make them objectionable to those who see through the subterfuge.