NOTICE OF JUDGMENT NO. 2307.
(Given pursuant to section 4 of the Food and Drugs Act.)
ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING OF SALAD DRESSING.
On July 6, 1912, the United States Attorney for the Eastern Dis- 
trict of Missouri, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, filed in the District Court of the United States for said district 
an information against the National Pickle & Canning Co., a cor- 
poration, St. Louis, Mo., alleging shipment by said company, on or 
about June 13, 1911, from the State of Missouri into the State of 
Colorado, of a quantity of salad dressing which was adulterated and 
misbranded. The product was labeled: " Extra quality. Absolutely 
Pure. Cupid Brand Trade Mark Salad Dressing Dodson-Braun Mfg. 
Co. St. Louis, Mo. Guaranteed under the Food and Drugs Act, June 
30, 1906 "; and in small type, " Preserved with 1/10 of 1% Sodium 
Benzoate to Prevent Fermentation."
Analysis of a sample of the product by the Bureau of Chemistry 
of this Department showed the following results: Sodium benzoate, 
0.21 per cent; color, artificial, coal tar, naphthol yellow S; turmeric, 
absent. Adulteration of this product was alleged in the information 
for the reason that it contained a quantity of sodium benzoate largely 
in excess of the amount indicated and stated on the label, to wit, 0.21 
per cent sodium benzoate, and it also contained a coal-tar dye called 
naphthol yellow S, and was therefore adulterated in that it was col- 
ored in a manner whereby its inferiority was concealed. Misbrand- 
ing was alleged for the reason that the product was labeled " Salad 
Dressing " and no mention was made on the principal label of the 
presence of benzoate of soda, which form of label was misleading 
because it conveyed the impression and led the purchaser thereof to 
believe that the product was pure salad dressing, whereas, in truth
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and in fact, it contained sodium benzoate, the presence of which sub- 
stance was not declared upon the principal label on the product, and 
the presence of the sodium benzoate in the product was declared 
only in small type on a small sticker placed upon the container of 
the product; and the product was further misbranded in that the 
said small sticker stated that the product was " preserved with 1/10 
of 1% sodium benzoate to prevent fermentation," which statement 
was false and misleading, in that the product contained 0.21 per 
cent of sodium benzoate, and the product was further misbranded in 
that the statement, " Preserved with 1/10 of 1% sodium benzoate 
to prevent fermentation," deceived and misled the purchaser into 
the belief that the product contained only one-tenth of 1 per cent of 
sodium benzoate, whereas it contained much more than the amount 
of sodium benzoate so stated, to wit, 0.21 per cent.
On November 25, 1912, the defendant company entered a plea of 
guilty to the information and the court imposed a fine of $50 and 
costs.
W. M. HAYS, 
Acting Secretary of Agriculture.
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 4,1913.
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