NOTICE OF JUDGMENT NO. 2477.
(Given pursuant to section 4 of the Pood and Drugs Act.)
United States v. Thirty Cases of Grenadine Syrup.   Libel dismissed by order of the court.
ALLEGED ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING OF GRENADINE SYRUP.
On April 9, 1912, the United States Attorney for the District of 
Massachusetts, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, 
filed in the District Court of the United States for said district a libel 
for the seizure and condemnation of 30 cases of grenadine syrup 
remaining unsold in the original unbroken packages at Boston, Mass., 
alleging that the product had been shipped by C. A. Theller Co., New 
York, N. Y., and charging adulteration and misbranding in violation 
of the Food and Drugs Act. The product- was labeled: "Giroux 
Brand Guaranteed Wholesome Artificially Colored Grenadine Syrup. 
The fac-simile of our signature on this label is your safeguard against 
spurious imitations. All infringements will be prosecuted to the full 
extent of the law. Guaranteed by C. A. Theller Co. under the Food 
and Drugs Act, June 30th 1906. Distributed by C. A. Theller Co., 
New York."
Adulteration of the product was alleged in the libel for the reason 
that a substance, to wit, a compound sugar syrup, had been substi-* 
tuted wholly or in part for said food. Misbranding was alleged for the 
reason that the product was labeled and branded "Grenadine Syrup" 
so as to deceive and mislead the purchaser into the belief that it con- 
sisted of grenadine syrup, whereas, in truth and in fact, it was not 
grenadine syrup.
On August 1, 1912, by consent of both parties, the case came on for 
hearing before the court without a jury. On August 22 a finding 
favorable to the claimant was made and the libel was dismissed, as 
will more fully appear from the following decision by the court 
(Dodge, J.):
The thirty cases were transported from New York to Boston for delivery to a con- 
signee. The consignee has filed a waiver of its rights in favor of the shipper. The 
shipper has appeared as claimant and answered the information.
The Bottles contained in the cases seized are labeled "Grenadine Syrup".
88839°—No. 2477—13
The first count of the information charges that the liquor in the bottles is adulterated 
within the meaning of the Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, in that a compound 
sugar syrup has been substituted wholly or in part for the food named. The second 
count charges misbranding within the meaning of said Act, in that the label would 
deceive and mislead the purchaser into the belief that the food consisted of grenadine 
syrup, whereas, in truth and in fact, it was not grenadine syrup. The claimant denies 
that there has been any adulteration within the meaning of the Act, and denying also 
that there has been any misbranding within the meaning of the Act, expressly says 
and avers "that said food was in truth and in fact 'Grenadine Syrup.' "
The Government's contention is that "Grenadine Syrup" means only syrup com- 
posed of sugar and the juice of the pomegranate. This the claimant denies and con- 
tends that according to the accepted meaning of the words they signify only a sugar 
syrup having a certain color and flavor. The claimant is the manufacturer of the 
syrup seized and concedes that in its manufacture no pomegranates are used.' Accord- 
ing to the claimant's evidence, the syrup is composed of sugar, citric and tartaric acid 
and the juices of certain fruits not disclosed. There is no evidence to the contrary 
and I find this to be the fact. That the syrup contains anything which may render it 
injurious to health, the Government does not claim.
The Government has proved adulteration and misbranding if it has proved that 
"Grenadine Syrup" has, in common acceptation, the limited meaning it asserts. If 
this is the fact, a purchaser relying on the label has the right to expect to get a syrup 
made with pomegranate juice, and is cheated if he gets a syrup from which such juice 
is absent. But unless the Government has sustained the burden of proving that the 
words of the label carry with them the meaning claimed, according to an understanding 
so general as to give any purchaser the right to believe that syrup so composed is what 
he is buying, neither charge has been established.
"Orange Syrup" or "Lemon Syrup" are words which, if used as labels would no 
doubt give a purchaser the right to expect the syrup so labeled to have been made 
from the familiar fruits named. The pomegranate is a less familiar fruit, nor is "gren- 
ade, " its French name, the name by which it is commonly known among us. "Grena- 
dine " is nowhere used as the name of a fruit. The word is no doubt derived from 
"
grenade," and among its meanings, in French, as the dictionaries of that language 
referred to show, is, a syrup made of sugar and pomegranate juice. It does not neces- 
sarily follow, however, that the same meaning of the word is commonly used and 
accepted in this country. The question is one not to be settled by derivation or by 
dictionaries, except so far as these may tend to show the meaning of the word in com- 
mon acceptation here. And whatever might otherwise be the force of the French 
definitions of "grenadine" as tending to establish the Government's contention, I 
must regard it as greatly diminished by the fact that there is shown to be in force in 
France, since April 3,1909, a decree of the French Government, made in pursuance of 
legislation in 1905, for the suppression of fraud in the sale of goods and of food adultera- 
tion, which expressly provides that "the name Syrup of Grenadine is limited to syrup 
of sugar with the addition of citric acid or of tartaric acid and flavored with vegetable 
substances."
Many English dictionaries have been referred to by counsel, but in only one of them 
is "grenadine" defined as a syrup made from pomegranates. This is Webster's New 
International Dictionary, published by Merriam & Co. (Eds. 1910 & 1912). Two 
other meanings are also given, having no relation to any kind of syrup, and the meaning 
first referred to is, as I understand it, given as a French meaning rather than as a 
commonly accepted English meaning. No such meaning is given in Webster's 
International Dictionary, published by the same firm in 1904. The Century Dic- 
tionary and Cyclopedia Supplement, Ed. 1911, gives as one definition "a syrup; 
used for colds", and for this Larousse, one of the French dictionaries above referred
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to, is cited; but nothing is said about the syrup being made from pomegranates. I 
do not find "grenadine" defined in any other English dictionary as a syrup of any 
kind, the other wholly different meanings of the word are the only ones given.
According to the evidence at the trial "Grenadine Syrup" has been an article of 
commerce in this country only during the last ten or fifteen years. Some of the 
syrup dealt in under that name appears to have been imported, chiefly if not wholly 
from France, and some of it to have been of domestic manufacture. No evidence 
was offered by the Government tending to show that any of it, whether imported 
or made here, has been actually made from pomegranates or has actually contained 
any pomegranate juice. The evidence satisfies me, on the other hand, that, speaking 
generally, no pomegranates or pomegranate juice are or have been used in making 
either the imported or domestic syrup, and that the imported syrup has been and is 
made as indicated in the decree of the French Government above referred to.
The evidence fails also to satisfy me that "Grenadine Syrup" has, in common 
acceptation, the limited meaning claimed by the Government. While it may be 
true that the names under which similar syrups are known and sold are generally 
taken from the source of the materials used, they are also sometimes indications 
only of the flavor or color, and are sometimes merely fanciful—as was admitted by one 
of the Government witnesses. It appears to be true that, in France, whatever the 
definitions found in French dictionaries, syrup actually made from pomegranates 
would more properly be called "sirup de grenade" than "grenadine," "sirup grena- 
dine," or "sirup de grenadine". To my mind the fair conclusion from the evidence 
in the case is, that the claimant's label, in common acceptation, means not that 
the syrup labelled is actually made from pomegranates, but that it possesses a per 
tain characteristic flavor and color, desired by consumers. That the purchaser of 
such syrup has the right, according to common understanding, to expect a syrup 
actually made from pomegranates, I am unable to regard as sufficiently proved. 
Indeed, it seems to me by no means proved that a syrup actually made from pome- 
granates would possess the flavor and color which purchasers of "Grenadine Syrup" 
have learned to desire and expect. A witness for the Government testified that he 
had made syrup from pomegranates and he produced samples of the result, but it 
did not appear that he had ever tried to sell any of it as "Grenadine Syrup". A 
witness for the defence who had tried the same experiment in manufacture testified 
that the results were unsatisfactory both as to color and flavor.
By consent of both parties, the case has been heard before the Court without a 
jury. My views of the law and the evidence being as above stated, I must find for 
the claimant and dismiss the information.
B. T. GALLOWAY,
Acting Secretary of Agriculture. 
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 12, 1913.
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