5.399. Adulteration and :misbranding o:£ viuega:i·. U. S. * * * v. 1.00 B~rels
* i< * of Cide1• Vinega¥. Cons-ent deeree o-f eonde1:nnation
and fo;efeiture. Produet ordered releasetl on bond. (F. & D. No.
7930. I. S. No. 10630-m. S. No. C-610.)
On December 20, 1916, the United States attorney for the Southern District of
Illinois, acting upon a report by the Seeretary of Agriculture, filed in the Dis~
trict Court of the United States for said district a libel for the seizure and
condemnation of 100 barrels of vinegar, consigned on October 29, 1916, remaining
unsold in the original unbroken packages at Peoria, Ill., alleging that the article
had been shipped by the Benton Fruit Products Co., Benton Harbor, Mich., and
transperted from the State of Michigan into the State of Illinois, and charging
adulteration and misbranding in violation of the Food and Drugs Act. The
article was labeled: " Pocahontas Brand Cider Vinegar reduced to fom· percent
acetic strength.,,
Adulteration of the article was alleged in substance in the libel for the reason
that distilled vinegar, boiled cider, and added ash material had been mixed and
packed with the article so as to reduce- and lower and injuriously affect its
quality and strength, and had been substituted in part for said article.
Misbranding was alleged in substance for the reason that the statements
:1pp.earing on the label were false and misleading and deceived and misled the
J.}urchaser of said article. Misbranding was alleged, for the further reason that
the article was an imitation of and was offered for sale undel'" the distinctive
name of another article, to wit, cider vinegar.
On .January 22, 1916-, C. B. Gehlert, doing business as the Benton Fruit Pt·Ottucts
Co.~ Benton Harbor, Mich., claimant, having admitted the allegations of the
libel, Judgment of condemnation and forfeiture was entered, and it was ordered
by the court that the product should be delivered to said claimant upon tI1:e
payment of the costs of the proceedings and the execntfon of a bond in the sum
of $1,000, in conformity with section 10 of the act, conditioned in part that the
product should be labeled imitation cider vinegar.
CARL VROOMAN, Acting Secretary of Agriculture