11759. Adulteration and misbranding of butter.     U. S. v. 80 Cases  and  53
Boxes of Butter. Consent decrees of condemnation and forfei- 
ture. Product released under bond. (F. & D. Nos. 17576, 17595. 
I. S. Nos. 8014-v, 8015-v.    S. Nos. W-1390, W-1391.)
On .June 26 and 30, 1923, respectively, the United States attorney for the 
Northern District of California, .acting upon, reports,<by >the Secretary1 of Agri- 
culture, filed in the District Court of the'United States for said district libels 
praying the seizure and condemnation of 80 cases and 53 boxes of butter, re- 
maining in the original unbroken packages at San Francisco, Calif., con- 
signed by the Fergus County Creamery, Inc., Lewistown, Mont., alleging 
that the article had been shipped from Lewistown, Mont., on or about June 4, 
1923, and transported from the State of Montana into the State of Cali- 
fornia, and charging adulteration and misbranding with respect to a porlion 
thereof and adulteration with respect to the remainder, in violation of the 
Food and Drugs Act, as amended. A portion of the article was labeled in 
part: " From Fergus County Creamery." The remainder of the said article 
was labeled in part: " From Lewistown Creamery Co., Lewistown, Montana."
Adulteration of the article was alleged in substance in the libels for the 
reason that excessive water had been mixed and paeked with the said article 
so as to reduce and lower and injuriously affect its quality and strength, 
for the further reason that a product deficient in milk fat and high in mois- 
ture had been mixed and packed with and substituted wholly or in part for
the said article, and for the further reason that a valuable constituent, but- 
terfat, had been abstracted from the article.
Misbranding was alleged with respect to a portion of the product for the 
reason that the article was [food] in package form, and the quantity of 
the contents was not plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the 
package.
On July 28, 1923, Swift & Co. having appeared as claimant for the prop- 
erty and having consented to the entry of decrees, judgments of condemna- 
tion and forfeiture were entered, and it was ordered by the court that the 
product be released to the said claimant upon payment of the costs of the 
proceedings and the execution of bonds in the aggregate sum of $3,610, in 
conformity with section 10 of the act, conditioned in part that the product 
be made to conform with the provisions of the act.
HOWARD M. GORE, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.