17513. Misbranding of flour.     IT. S. v. 400 Sacks, et al., of Flour.     Decree of
condemnation, forfeiture, and sale, witn provision for release 
under bond. (F. & D. No. 24393. I. S. Nos. 025360, 025361, 025364. 
S. No. 2632.)
Sample sacks of flour from the following described interstate shipment hav- 
ing been found to contain less than the amount labeled on the sacks, the Secre- 
tary of Agriculture reported the facts to the United States attorney for the 
Western District of Louisiana.
On December 24, 1929, the said United States attorney filed in the District 
Court of the United States for said district a libel praying seizure and con- 
demnation of four hundred and forty-eight 12-pound sacks, and three hundred 
and twenty 6-pound sacks of flour, alleging that the article had been shipped 
by the G. B. R. Smith Milling Co., on or about November 23, 1929, from Sher- 
man, Tex., into the State of Louisiana, that it remained in the original un- 
broken packages at Lake Charles, La., and that it was misbranded in violation 
of the food and drugs act as amended. The sacks containing the article were 
labeled in part: "12 Lbs. [or "6 Lbs."] Bouquet Flour," or "12 Lbs. Daily 
Biscuit Self Rising Flour." Nineteen 12-pound sacks of the Daily Biscuit self- 
rising flour were seized.
It was alleged in the libel that the article was misbranded in that the state- 
ments, " 12 Lbs." or " 6 Lbs." on the labels, were false and misleading and 
deceived and misled the purchaser, since the packages contained less than the 
weights indicated thereon. Misbranding was alleged for the further 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 packages, 
since the statements made thereon as to the weight of the contents were 
incorrect.
On April 21, 1930, no answer or claim having been filed, the case came on 
for final disposition. Judgment of condemnation and forfeiture was entered, 
and it was ordered by the court that the product be sold. The decree provided, 
however, that the said product might be released to the G. B. Smith Milling 
Co., Sherman, Tex., shipper, or the F. C. Winter Mercantile Co., Lake Charles, 
La., upon payment of costs and the execution of a bond in the sum of $100, 
conditioned in part that it be repacked, under the supervision of this depart- 
ment, in compliance with the requirements of the Federal food and drugs act.
ARTHUR M. HYDE, Secretary of Agriculture*