18184.  Adulteration and Misbranding of olive oil.     XJ. S. v. Franl? B. Taor- 
mina, Rosario Taormina, and Joseph Taormina (Taormina Bi'Oth- 
'   ers).     Pleas   of  g-uilty.     Fines,  $300  and  costs.     (F.   &  D.   No.   22586. 
I.   S.  Nos.  23398-x,   23399-x,   23400-x,   23401-x,   23402-x,   23405-x,   23407-x, 
23408-x, 23413-x, 23414-x, 23415-x, 23416-x, 23417-x.)
On January 9, 1929, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of 
Louisiana, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the 
District Court of the United States for said district an information against 
Frank E. Taormina, Rosario Taormina, and Joseph Taormina, copartners, 
trading as Taormina Brothers, New Orleans, La., alleging shipment by said 
defendants, in violation of the food and drugs act as amended, in various con- 
signments, on or about January 12, January 14, January 16, and February 6, 
1928, respectively, from the State of Louisiana into the State of Texas, of quan- 
tities of olive oil which was adulterated and misbranded. A portion of the 
article was shipped
" in cans labeled in part: " Pure Olive Oil ' La Giardiniera 
Italiana ' Packed in Italy Expressly For Taormina Bros. By Eustachio Taormina 
& Figli Sicily-Partanna-Italy * * * This Olive Oil is guaranteed to 
be absolutely pure under chemical analysis and highly recommended by physi- 
cians for medicinal and table use Olio Puro D'Oliva * * * Impaccato In 
Italia * * * Sicilia-Partanna-Italia." The remainder of the said article 
was shipped in unlabeled cans and was invoiced as olive oil.
It was alleged in the information that the article, considered as a food, was 
adulterated in that a substance, to wit, cottonseed oil, 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 olive oil which the said 
article purported to be. Adulteration was alleged with respect to the portion 
of the article shipped in labeled cans, considered as a drug, in that it was
sold under and by a name recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia and 
differed from the standard of strength, quality, and purity as determined by 
the tests laid down in said pharmacopoeia official at the time of investigation 
of the article, in that it was a product largely composed of cottonseed oil, 
whereas said pharmacopoeia provided that olive oil should consist wholly of 
oil obtained from the ripe fruit of Olea europaea; and the standard of the 
strength, quality, and purity of the article was not declared on the container 
thereof.
Misbranding was alleged with respect to the portion of the product shipped 
in labeled cans for the reason that the statements, to wit, " Olive Oil," "Abso- 
lutely Pure," "Impaccato in Italia," and " Sicilia," borne on the labels of the 
said cans, were false and misleading in that the said statements represented 
that the article was olive oil and was a foreign product, to wit, an olive oil 
produced in Sicily, Italy, and for the further reason that it was labeled as 
aforesaid so as to deceive and mislead the purchaser into the belief that it was 
olive oil and was a foreign product, to wit,, an olive oil produced in Sicily, 
Italy, whereas it was not olive oil but was a mixture composed in large part of 
cottonseed oil, and was not a foreign product, but was a domestic product, to 
wit, an article composed in large part of cottonseed oil produced in the United 
States of America. Misbranding of the said portion of the article shipped in 
labeled cans was alleged for the further reason that it was prepared in imita- 
tion of and was offered for sale and sold under the distinctive name of another 
article, to wit, olive oil, for the further reason that it purported to be a foreign 
product when not so, and for the further reason that it was falsely labeled as to 
the place where it was manufactured and produced. Misbranding was alleged 
with respect to the portion of the product shipped in unlabeled cans and in- 
voiced as olive oil for the reason that it was an article composed in large part 
of cottonseed oil, prepared in imitation of olive oil, and offered for sale and 
sold under the distinctive name of another article, to wit, olive oil, and for the 
further reason that it was food in package form and the quantity of the con- 
tents was not plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the package.
On January 14, 1929, the defendants entered pleas of guilty to the information, 
and the court imposed fines aggregating $300, together with costs.
R. W. DUNLAP, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.