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Show FOOD SUPPLY PROTECTION IS BIWENPEDPLE- State Dairy and Food Bureau Bu-reau Is Active in Securing Purity and Lawful Weights.- ECONOMY IN WORK ACHIEVED IN YEAR , ' Public Benefits Through the Strict Enforcement of the Federal Laws and the Statutes of Utah. Many duties in behalf uf the eople of XT tali i'ail upon the state dairy and food bureau. This department is really bigger than the title suggest, and tljc title is suggestive of matters that interest in-terest the average citizen pretty much. The dairy and food bureau is also the state department of weights and measures. Furthermore, it is the state hotel inspection department. So, in a word, this branch of the state's official family looks after the purity of the food 'whrh the people buy anil eat, the things they drink, from niilk and grape juice to rjooze; aims to and does see that the storekeeper or the milkman or the garage man or the bartender, give full measure of beans, buttermilk-, gasoline gaso-line or bourbon, as the case may be, and it further sees to it that sheets on hotel beds are long enough and tiie blankets warm enough and whether the fire escapes es-capes are really such, or merely triek ladders that fall apart when put to use. Heber C, Smith at Head. The head of all these activities is Heber C. Smith. He is the state dairy and food commissioner and ex uihcio I sealer of weights and measures and hotel ! inspector. (J. E. C.'oudie and P. W. Sal-I Sal-I mon are his st aff deputies in the de- partments of dairy and food and weights and measures. Joseph J. MeyeTS is the deputy in the hotel inspection department depart-ment and Mrs. Inez 'Wetzel Jones is office deputy and clerk. Commissioner Smith is the executive officer of the dairy and food commission. commis-sion. The other members are State Chemist Herman Harms, Charles Cott-rell, Cott-rell, Jr.. of .Salt Lake, and James Clawson Claw-son of Spring City. Commissioner Smith has encouraged the enlistment of local health officers as special deputies of his department, this co-operation having proved very valuable in tracking down putrid and unhealthfui foods which unscrupulous or misguided tradesmen have attempted to foist upon the public. His department also co-operates with the federal food and drug bureau and local weights and measures officials where there are any. 8ait Lake and Ogden both have such departments, being bureaus of the health department. Mr. Smith haa been commissioner inee last spring, succeeding WiUard Hansen. His familiarity with the department de-partment dates back of that, however, as he was long Mr. Hansen 'a chief deputy. New Rule Is Made. One of Commissioner Smith's first official of-ficial acts was to declare that he and all his deputies were officers of each branch of tho service Any one of them can act in the dairy and food bureau, the weights and measures department and the hotel inspection department. Each member of the staff is familiar with the requirements of each department, depart-ment, although he may devote most of his time to one particular branch. Mr. Smith did this because of criticisms criti-cisms made during the last session of the legislature. When the department was under discussion country members of the legislature complained that the department de-partment spent too much money in traveling trav-eling expense. ''One man will come to my little town," said a country senator, sen-ator, "to inspect the dairy and food. Next week nnother man will come to inppect the hotel. -Next week-smother will come to inspect; the weights and measure?. H seems to ule that "in a town as small as mine, one man ou one trip could do it all and save the state that much money in traveling expense." Commissioner Smith tli ought so, too, and that is the way the thing is worked in the small towns now. Work More Effective. Through co-operation with local boa rds of health, the work of the department de-partment has become more effective, Mr. Smith believes. This has been shown in recent instances. The local health officers and deputies of the dni ry and food bureau got on ihe trail of some inferior walnuts. TfVey were shriveled and old, yet they were not bad and could not, be condemned. Tho'btnto dairy and food bureau was able under the law, however, to prohibit pro-hibit the sale of them as lirst-clas nuts and at lir-t -class prices. The dealers gn vc n p 1 1 yi n g to so . d i spose of th psc nut here. Comm issioncr Sin it h had a hunch, so hr notified the Ugdon health department to watch out. Sure enough, Ogdrm reported that the poor nuts were being sold there as first-class. The dairy and food bureau promptly stopped it. statutes tinder which the department j is operated prohibit t he mislabeling of foods. It is against The sta re law to jscll pecoud-class stuff purporting 'to be ' first -class. Ft i ai:ainM the law to label a bottle '"pure rye whisky" when the. i exh'iarator is adulterated with water an: chicory. J t is against the law to j advertise culls as "strictly fresh eggs."'j Will Seek Legislation. ; j TIeye i ; n ik.m place to slate that at jllic next sc-Mon ol' the legislature Com-; l iiiisfione-r smith will nsk tor the pas-ts;ic pas-ts;ic of a f-ppyinl hv pertaining to egtfs. lit is to Vie modeled after a ( hicago or-j i dimin.-e that p''o ido real -lifeguards ; rot the ogtr '-uiisnmcr and is finding fa-I vor in ot'ei- parts nf the country. It j j rrn id - tlnii the dnt c when the r; j : w ;ts J : i t . ( must be plainly stamped on . ' .-very bit of i;u tniit ..fT-red i'ur bale, j Then the puiviiaT will know exactly l -i; :i ! he if- t i n-r. Mr. nx h won id j i:Ko to see bad e--s nholihe,i from the j market by statute and the bad-egg jose become a' hoary legend of vaudeville. Within the last year the bureau has been enforcing tbe'statute which stipulates stipu-lates that every paekage and food and drink container must be branded with the net weight. This enforcement was withheld until the federal law- on the subject became operative, in order to avoid a conflict. Recently the commissioner commis-sioner iusisted that brewers were not liviug up to this, and they were haled before the dairy and lood commission for explanations. The new law insisting that a pound of butter must weigh sixteen ounces and that the information be conveyed on the package also went into effect. The commissioner says the butter manufacturers manufac-turers have obeyed from the start. Uaiformity Is Urged. Co-operation with local health boards, the department of agriculture and agricultural agri-cultural colleges in raising the standard of butter is one of the matters that has much interested the department in the last year. Utah butter assays high recent tests showing 81 to 92' points. Uniformity is now sought, go that the butters of the west wilfhave a uniform standard such as has made the Elgin market famous in the mjddle west. Recently the commissioner and bis deputies have been busy w-ith their weights and measures work. They swooped down unawares, and in company com-pany with local inspectors, upon the coal dealers of Salt Lake and Ogden, discovering dis-covering that many of their wagon loads were considerably short weight. After this expose the coal dealers assured the department that it would never happen again. Certain milk dealers were found using sliortrmeasure bottles, -which were promptly confiscated. The milk dealers said I here would be no complaints henceforth. A large number of Salt Lake and Ogden saloonkeepers were found selling mi6branded, adulterated and short-measure beverages. The department de-partment surveillance of them continues. In the department of hotel inspection 600 hotels and rooming touses are inspected in-spected and regulated at brief intervals. |