13404.  Adulteration   and  misbranding   of  canned  peas.     U.   S.  v.   Gibbs   & 
Co.   (Inc.).     Plea   of  guilty.     Fine,   $15   and   costs.      (F.   &   D.   No.
18089.    I. S. No. 1910-v.)
At the March, 1925, term of the United States District Court within and for 
the District of Maryland, the United States attorney for said district, acting 
upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the district court afore- 
said an information against Gibbs & Co. (Inc.), a corporation, Baltimore, Md., 
alleging shipment by said company, in violation of the food and drugs act, on 
or about June 29, 1923, from the State of Maryland into the State of Massa- 
chusetts, of a quantity of canned peas which were adulterated and misbranded. 
The article was labeled in part: "Gold Seal Extra Small Sweet Sifted Peas 
* * * The Booth Packing Oo. Branch Of Gibbs & Company, Inc., Distrib- 
uters."
Examination of the article by the Bureau of Chemistry of this department 
showed that it contained an excessive amount of brine and that the peas were 
of the early, smooth-skin variety and not the sweet variety as labeled.
Adulteration of the article was alleged in the information for the reason 
that a substance, to wit, brine, had been mixed and packed therewith so as 
to lower and reduce and injuriously affect its quality and strength, and had 
been substituted in part for the said article, and for the further reason that 
early peas had been substituted for sweet peas, which the article purported 
to be.
Sifted Peas," borne on the labels attached to the cans containing the article, 
was false and misleading, in that the said statement represented that the 
article consisted wholly of sweet sifted peas, and for the further reason that it 
was labeled as aforesaid so as to deceive and mislead the purchaser into the 
belief that it consisted wholly of sweet sifted peas, whereas, in truth and in 
fact, it did not consist wholly of sweet sifted peas but did consist in part of 
early peas.
On June 2, 1925, a plea of guilty to the information was entered on behalf 
of the defendant company, and the court imposed a fine of $15 and costs.
R. W. DUNLAP, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.