OCR Text |
Show USE OF nil HELD ADULTERflTSBN Formal Statement Is Issued by U. S. Department of Agriculture. The use of saccharin in foods is regarded re-garded as an adulteration under the food and drugs act, according to a statement issued yesterday by the United States department of agriculture. The department had been asked by various va-rious interests to reverse, or at least to reconsider, the position which it took in 1911 upon the use of saccharin in food brought under the jurisdiction of the federal fed-eral food and drugs act. This position in effect Is that' investigation has shown that the continued - use of saccharin for a long time. In quantities oyer three-tenths three-tenths of a gram a day, is likely to impair im-pair digestion, and that the addition of saccharin for cane sugar and other forms of sugar reduces the food value of the product and hence lowers its quality. Therefore, the secretary of agriculture declared" that he would regard as adulterated adul-terated under the food and drugs act any foods containing saccharin, which might be brought under the jurisdiction of that law, The department declares it is aware of no investigations which contribute any more recent evidence pointing to the harmlessness of saccharin. It has, therefore, there-fore, declined to reverse Its decision and it has regarded it as unfitling at this time to reopen the question, for the reason rea-son that a case is now pending in the courts in which the issues are presented clearly. The department will endeavor to press the trial of this case. |