(N. J. 2S.)
ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING OF PEPPER.
In accordance with the provisions of section 4 of the Food and 
Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, and of regulation 6 of the rules and 
regulations for the enforcement of the act, notice is given that on 
the 8th day of July, 1908, in the district court of the United States 
for the district of Maryland, in a criminal prosecution by the United 
States against the Interstate Chemical Company, a corporation doing 
business at Baltimore, Md., for violation of section 2 of the aforesaid 
act in shipping and delivering for shipment from the State of Mary- 
land to the State of North Carolina an adulterated and misbranded 
food product, that is to say, a product labeled and branded " Kitchen 
Queen Black Pepper," the said Interstate Chemical Company entered 
a plea of guilty, whereupon the court imposed upon it a fine of $25.
The facts in the case were as follows:
On November 15, 1907, an inspector of the Department of Agri- 
culture purchased from Clyde C"boon & Co., Plymouth, N. C., sam- 
ples of a product labeled as follows: " Kitchen Queen Black Pep- 
per, Guaranteed under the Pure Food and Drugs Act, June 30, 1906, 
by Interstate Chemical Co., Baltimore, Md. Serial No. 453." The 
samples were subjected to analysis in the Bureau of Chemistry and 
the following results obtained and stated:
Ket  weight   (grams) 
75
Per cent.
Ash,   total 
6.37
Ash, insoluble in hydrochloric acid 
1.38
Ether extract, fixed 
6.61
Ether  extract,  volatile 
.99
Crude  fiber 
14. 22
Starch (by niiscroscopic examination the pepper showed large quantities
of leguminous starch), acid conversion gave 
40.57
63892-08
In " Standards of Purity for Food Products," established under 
authority of the act of March 3, 1903, and published as Circular 19, 
Office of the Secretary, U. S. Department of Agriculture, black pep- 
per is defined as follows:
Black pepper is the dried immature berry of Piper nigrum L. and contains 
not less than six (G) per cent of nonvolatile ether extract, not less than 
twenty-five (25) per cent of starch, not more than seven (7) per cent of total 
ash, not more than two (2) per cent of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid, 
and not more than fifteen (15) per cent of crude fiber. One hundred parts of 
the nonvolatile ether extract contain not less than three and one-quarter (3.25) 
parts  of nitrogen.
•It was evident that the product was both adulterated and mis- 
branded, adulterated because it purported to be a black pepper, when, 
in fact, some other substance, a substance of a leguminous nature, 
had been mixed and packed with the product so as to reduce or 
lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength, and because a sub- 
stance of leguminous nature had been substituted in part for the 
article. It was misbranded for the reason that it was labeled " Black 
Pepper," whereas it consisted of a mixture of black pepper with 
another substance.
The Secretary of Agriculture, on April 4, 1908, afforded the 
Interstate Chemical Company a hearing. At this hearing it failed 
to show any fault or error in the aforesaid analysis, but' submitted 
evidence establishing that it purchased the pepper by the barrel 
from the manufacturers in New York City and claimed that in trans- 
ferring the product from the original package in which it was re- 
ceived to another container the character and quality of the article 
were not in any way changed. The facts were, however, duly re- 
ported to the Attorney-General and the case referred to the United 
States attorney for the district of Maryland, who filed an informa- 
tion against the said company, with the result hereinbefore stated.
H. W. WILEY, 
F. L. DUNLAP, 
GEO.   P.   MCCABE,
Board of Food and Drug Inspection.
Approved:
JAMES WILSON,
Secretary of Agriculture. 
WASHINGTON, D. C., November SO, 1908.