|16624.  Adulteration and misbranding of vinegar.    IT. S. v.  St. Louis "Vine- 
gar & Cider  Co.     Plea of nolo contendere.     Pine, $525  and costs.
(F. & D. No. 22594.    I   S. Nos   19922-x, 19935-x, 19936-x, 19937-x, 19941-x, 
19943-X, 25248-x, 25249-x, 25308-x, 25309-x.)
On December 13, 1928, the United States attorney for the Eastern District 
i
|ftf Missouri, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the 
I
Mistrict Court of the United States for said district an information against the 
;
St. Louis Vinegar & Cider Co., a corporation, St. Louis, Mo., alleging shipment 
by said company, in violation of the food and drugs act as amended, in 
various consignments between June 3, 1927, and February 4, 1928, from the 
State of Missouri into the State of Illinois, of quantities of evaporated-apple- 
vinegar, corn-sugar vinegar, and apple-cider vinegar which were adulterated 
and mis-branded. The articles were labeled in part, variously: " Evaporated 
Apple Vinegar," " Corn Sugar Vinegar," " Fermented Corn Sugar Vinegar," 
and " Fermented Apple Cider Vinegar."
It was alleged in the information that the articles were adulterated in that 
mixtures of artifically colored distilled vinegar, with respect to portions of the 
articles, and mixtures of artificially colored distilled vinegar and water, defi- 
cient in acidity, with respect to a portion of the fermented corn-sugar vinegar 
and a portion of the evaporated-apple vinegar, had been mixed and packed with 
the articles so as to lower and reduce and injuriously affect their quality and 
strength, and had been substituted iu part for evaporated-apple vinegar, corn- 
sugar vinegar, fermented corn-sugar vinegar, and apple-cider vinegar, which 
the articles purported to be. Adulteration was alleged for the further reason 
that the articles were inferior to evaporated-apple vinegar, corn-sugar vinegar, 
fermented corn-sugar vinegar, and fermented apple-cider vinegar, as the case 
might be, and were colored so as to simulate the appearance of said products 
and in a manner whereby their inferiority was concealed.
Misbranding was alleged for the reason that the statements, to wit, " Evapo- 
rated Apple Vinegar," " Coin Sugar Vinegar," " Fermented Corn Sugar 
Vinegar," " Fermented Apple Cider .Vinegar," borne on the labels of respective 
portions of the products, were false and misleading in that the said statements 
represented that the articles were evaporated-apple vinegar, corn-sugar vinegar, 
fermented corn-sugar vinegar, or fermented apple-cider vinegar, as the case 
might be, and for the further reason that they were labeled as aforesaid 
so as to deceive and mislead the purchaser into the belief that they were 
evaporated-apple vinegar, corn-sugar vinegar, fermented corn-sugar vinegar, or 
fermented apple-cider vinegar, whereas they were not, but were, in the case 
of portions of the products, mixtures composed in part of artificially colored 
distilled vinegar, and in the case of a portion of the corn-sugar vinegar and 
a portion of the evaporated-apple vinegar, mixtures composed in part of 
artificially colored distilled vinegar and water, deficient in acidity. Misbrand- 
ing was alleged for the further reason that the articles were imitations and 
were offered for sale under the distinctive names of other articles. Misbrand- 
ing was alleged with respect to a portion of the fermented corn-sugar vinegar 
for the; further reason that it was food in package form and the quantity of 
the contents was not plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the 
package.
On April 26, 1929, a plea of nolo contendere to the information was entered 
on behalf ,of the defendant company, and the court imposed a fine of $525 and 
costs.
AR'rauK M. HYDE, Secretary of Agriculture*