26901. Misbranding of   canned   peas.    IT.   S.   v.   517   Cases   of   Canned   Peas.
Decree of condemnation.    Product released under bond to be relabeled.
(F. & D. no. 38844.    Sample no. 12255-C.)
These peas fell below the standard established by the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, since they were not immature and were not labeled to indicate that 
they were substandard.
Ou December 17, 1936, the United States attorney for the District of Massa- 
chusetts, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the 
district court a libel praying seizure and condemnation of 517 cases of canned 
peas at Boston, Mass., alleging that the article had been shipped in interstate 
commerce on or about November 11, 1936, by Jaburg Bros., of New York, N. Y., 
from the F. P. Roe Canning Co., Greensboro, Md., and charging misbranding 
in violation of the Food and Drugs Act as amended. It was labeled in part: 
"Pure Food Brand Early June Peas * * * Thomas Roberts & Co. 
Distributors Philadelphia, Pa."
The article was alleged to be misbranded in that it was canned food and 
fell below the standard of quality and condition promulgated by the Secretary 
of Agriculture, since the peas were not immature, more than 25 percent thereof 
being ruptured, and the package or label did not bear a plain and conspicuous 
statement prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture indicating that it fell 
below such standard.
On January 7, 1937, Thomas Roberts & Co. having fippeared as claimant 
and having admitted the allegations of the libel, judgment of condemnation 
was entered and it was ordered that the product be released under bond condi- 
tioned that the old labels be obliterated or destroyed and that new labels 
correctly describing the product be affixed to the containers.
W. R. GREGG, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.