cultural seed, this amendment provided for the regulation of the sale of vegetable seed. In cooperation with the Experiment Station, the department has continued to study the conditions surrounding the sale of vegetable seeds. A large number of representative samples have been taken. It is hoped that legislation governing their sale will soon be enacted. FIG. 33. FILLING, IN TRIPLICATE, SAMPLE CANS OF FERTILIZER. The quality and fertilizing value of commercial fertilizer bought by farmers is insured by Department inspection and enforcement of guarantees of quality required by law. TURPENTINE AND LINSEED OIL The department is charged with the inspection of supplies of turpentine and linseed oil offered for sale in the state. Samples of these materials to the number of 15 have been secured. In cooperation with the State Department of Purchase, our inspectors obtained a large number of samples of wood turpentine furnished to the various state institutions on a contract calling for spirits of turpentine. As a result of the information obtained the jobber supplying this material withdrew a number of the shipments made and supplied new lots of turpentine conforming with the contract specifications. Penalties amounting to $650 were also paid to the state through the department by the turpentine jobber. SUMMARY OF INSPECTION REPORT BY THE DAIRY AND FOOD BUREAU. Number of inspections of dairy plants 2,071 Number of inspections of restaurants and vendors. 5,449 8,970 3,062 5,511 5,332 Total 30,395 Babcock testers' licenses... LICENSES ISSUED. Milk plant managers' licenses.. Licenses for sale of concentrated commercial feeding stuffs. Total 3,002 1,262 2,013 1,102 7,379 FIG. 34. SEED SAMPLES TO INSURE CORRECT LABELING ARE TAKEN EVERY WHERE. The Department protects the farmers by inspecting all seeds sold in the state, and enforcing the law requiring guarantees by seedsmen as to variety, place of origin, germination, and freedom from weeds. SAMPLES COLLECTED. Total dairy product samples.. Samples of food not included in dairy product samples. Samples of seed Samples of commercial fertilizer 1,120 1,539 *1.745 *814 *564 10 5 5,797 Figures for feed, fertilizer, and seed are for the first nine months of 1924, Other figures are for the year ending Sept. 30, 1924, CHEMICAL LABORATORY It is the duty of the laboratory to make a careful physical and chemical examination of all samples submitted to it, with a view to ascertaining whether there has been any adulteration under the Farms and Markets Law. When court actions are brought, the chemists appear as expert witnesses. By its activities the laboratory helps to protect the consumer, as well as the honest producer, against adulterated, inferior, and unwholesome food. As a FIG. 35. EXAMINING BREED SMEARS OF MILK FOR BACTERIA. In the Breed method for counting the bacteria in milk a measured amount (.01 cc.) is smeared over a given area (1 sq. cm.) on a glass plate, the milk is dried and fixed with alcohol, the fat dissolved out and the bacteria stained with a coal tar dye. With the aid of a microscope the bacteria are counted in several areas of such size that they each represent 1-300,000 of 1 cc. of milk, and an average is taken. necessary corollary to its work, the laboratory must use every means to keep informed of up-to-date food manufacturing processes, and methods for detecting new forms of adulteration. Technical Aid Given to Citizens of the State. A considerable number of the samples tabulated as unofficial are sent in by individuals and concerns who desire to ascertain if certain foods are adulterated or misbranded. A very substantial amount of technical Left: Microphotograph of a milk graded as excellent." No bacteria visible. Only about 1 area in 15 showed even a single bacterium. The light colored circular areas are the spaces left by particles of fat which have been dissolved out. be on the point of most of which are They are the result Right: Microphotograph of milk so sour as to coagulating. The small black spots are bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, which do not produce disease. of improper handling and inadequate cooling. Each bacterium means 300,000 per cc. in the original milk. FIG. 37. COTTON DISKS USED IN SEDIMENT TEST. A pint of milk is strained through a cotton disk and the latter is examined. There is no strict correlation between the amount of visible dirt and the number of bacteria. A "clean" sediment test may mean only that the milk has been strained. The Practical Significance of Bacteria in Milk. The presence of bacteria in large numbers is indicative of improper methods of handling, whereby dirt, filth, or old decomposed milk are in some way introduced. By failure properly to cool the milk the bacteria always present in dirt or filth are permitted to multiply enormously. The number and kinds of bacteria in milk, therefore, indicate its sanitary market condition, even when they are not of a disease-producing type, but rather of harmless types. aid is also rendered through correspondence and conferences. This type of aid, being constructive rather than punitive, is felt to be an important function of the laboratory, and it is only regretted that routine work leaves comparatively little time for it. Laboratory Methods Kept Up to Date. Changing methods in food manufacturing technique and the introduction of new foods call for constant vigilance on the part of the food chemist. No new food or process must be condemned which places before the consuming public a wholesome product, always provided that the public is accurately informed as to the nature and composition of the food. The latter point must, however, be firmly insisted on, so that certain inaccuracies in labeling, seeming by themselves trivial, do not attain the dignity of trade customs which will be cited by other manufacturers as a tacit permission to misbrand their product in a manner thoroughly deceptive and pernicious. The newer knowledge of nutrition more than ever points out the danger of a diet containing too many "refined," synthetic, or "treated" foods. Such foods have their place in the diet, but it must be left to the intelligent consumer to determine how large a place this shall be. Experience has shown that this cannot safely be left wholly to commercial enterprise. The label therefore must tell the whole truth, and the laboratory must see to it that it does. New Equipment. With more commodious quarters it has been possible to lay in a small surplus stock of general apparatus and chemicals, so that a sudden demand upon the laboratory can be met without delay. Compressed air is now being purchased locally in cylinders, since this has been found cheaper and just as satisfactory as the installation of a power blower. A constant temperature vacuum oven has also been purchased, which is useful for heating certain foods that decompose at the boiling point of water. The essential parts for a Hortvet cryoscope have been purchased, with the idea of assembling them at a considerable saving. This apparatus is the most delicate indicator of milk watering known to science, and will enable us to pass with certainty on samples showing only slightly less solids not fat and ash than the herd samples. After considerable difficulty, a permit has been obtained from the United States Internal Revenue Bureau to purchase alcohol for laboratory use on a taxfree basis. This has resulted in a saving of several dollars per gallon on alcohol, which is such an essential reagent in food. control work. Co-operative Work with the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. The laboratory has done some collaborative work on methods for the analysis of turpentine, rosin, and fruit juices, looking toward the adoption or rejection of certain methods by American agricultural chemists. Co-operation with other Bureaus. The relations of the laboratory with the legal and inspectional bureaus of the department are |