24522. Misbranding of Stardom's Hollywood Diet. U. S. v. 42 Cases, et al., 
of Stardom's Hollywood Diet. Default decrees of condemnation 
and destruction. (F. & D. nos. 32965, 32966, 33013, 33014, 33015. Sample 
nos. 62764-A, 62765-A, 62771-A, 62775-A, 71526-A, 71578-A.)
These cases involved a product which was misbranded because of unwar- 
ranted therapeutic and curative claims in the labeling. A portion of the ar- 
ticle was found to be short weight.
On June 18 and June 28, 1934, the United States attorney for the Western 
District of New York, acting upon reports by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed 
in the district court libels praying seizure and condemnation of 54 cases and 
159 packages of Stardom's Hollywood Diet, in part at Buffalo, N. Y., and in 
part at Rochester, N. Y. On June 23, 1934, a libel was filed in the Northern 
District of New York against 159 packages of the product at Syracuse, N. Y. 
On December 27, 1934, an amended libel was filed in the Northern District of 
New York. It was alleged in the libels that the article had been shipped in 
interstate commerce, between the dates of March 1 and June 14, 1934, by the 
Hollywood Diet Corporation, from Chicago, Ill., and that it was misbranded 
in violation of the Food and Drugs Act as amended.
Analyses of samples showed that the article consisted essentially of sugar 
(20 percent), soybean flour, cocoa, and inorganic constituents including table 
salt.
The article was alleged to be misbranded in that the following statements 
regarding its curative and therapeutic effects appearing in the labeling were 
false and fraudulent: "The Dawn Of A New Era In Weight Control A beau- 
tiful figure need no longer be a matter of birthdays. The possibility of your 
having an exciting type of Hollywood figure is now so real as to be actually 
breath-taking, and to gain it you won't have to go hungry, engage in violent 
exercises, use drugs or resort to laxatives; all of these methods are taboo. 
You need sacrifice none of your freshness, none of your vitality. And when 
you have reduced to your normal healthy weight, you should have no sagging, 
wrinkled skin, no strained, tired look or feeling. Not a whit of the sad re- 
sults so often obtained with strenuous reducing methods. Don't risk vitamin 
starvation—as beauty comes from within I Stardom's is not a reducing agent 
in the strict sense of the word, because it is neither drug nor laxative. On the 
contrary, it is a highly concentrated, delicious, pure food that you can take into 
your system and convert into energy instead of fat, thereby satisfying every 
pang of hunger.   Stardom's is obviously as pure and safe as the food you eat
. . . Yet fat simply vanishes. * * * Directions. Add one heaping teaspoon- 
ful of Stardom's to a glass of milk, water or any of the citrus fruit juices, 
such as orange, pineapple, grapefruit, tomato or grape juice. This should be 
taken in place of one or two fat-forming meals daily, followed by a cup of 
coffee or tea, if desired. However, eat one adequate meal daily, as your sys- 
tem needs bulk for proper elimination. Stardom's instantly dispels hunger, 
as it supplies your system with food elements which are alive, such as, Vita- 
mins A, B, C, D, and E, six Minerals, namely, lime, phosphorus, potassium, so- 
dium, chlorine, and magnesium, Lecithin, a nerve and brain food, and the car- 
bohydrates necessary to assist normal body activities in burning up existing fat 
as quickly as it can safely be done. Stardom's could well be named 'Miracle 
Food' as it is a vitalizer, normalizer, and slenderizer." Misbranding was al- 
leged with respect to a portion of the article, for the further reason that the 
statement on the label, "Net Contents Seven Ounces", was false and mislead- 
ing and tended to deceive and mislead the purchaser, and 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 package, since 
the statement made was incorrect.
The Hollywood Diet Corporation entered an appearance as claimant in each 
case and filed answers to the original libels. On March 8, 1935, no amended 
answer having been filed to the amended libel filed in the Northern District of 
New York, judgment was entered in that case condemning the product and 
ordering that it be destroyed. On March 12, 1935, the answers filed in the 
remaining cases having been withdrawn, judgments of condemnation and de- 
struction were entered.
M. L. WILSON, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.