12497. Adulteration and misbranding of color. U. S. v. W. B. Wood Mfg 
Co., a Corporation, and W. B. Wood. Case dismissed as to W. B. 
Wood. Plea of guilty by W. B. Wood Mfg. Co. Fine, $200 and 
costs.     (F. & D. No. 13088.    I. S. No. 7577-r.)
On November 15, 1920, the United States attorney for the Eastern District 
of Missouri, acting upon a report by the' Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the 
District Court of the United States for said district an information against 
the W. B. Wood Mfg. Co., a corporation, and W. B. Wood, St. Louis, Mo., 
alleging shipment by said company and defendant, in violation of the food 
and drugs act, on or about April 11, 1919, from the State of Missouri into 
the State of Illinois, of a quantity of color which was adulterated and mis- 
branded. The article was labeled in part: " No. 538 lb. 1 W. B. Wood Mfg. 
Company   *    *    *    St.  Louis,  Mo.  Red  Shade."
Analysis of a sample of the article by the Bureau of Chemistry of this de- 
partment showed that it contained added salt and added sodium sulphate 
and an excessive quantity of arsenic.
Adulteration of the article was alleged in the information for the reason 
that certain substances, to wit, sodium chloride and sodium sulphate, had 
been mixed and packed therewith so as to lower, reduce, and injuriously 
affect its quality and strength and had been substituted in part for red shade, 
which the article purported to be. Adulteration was alleged for the further 
reason that the article contained an added deleterious and poisonous ingredient,, 
to wit, arsenic, which might have rendered it injurious to health.
Misbranding was alleged for the reason that the statement, to wit, " Red 
Shade," borne on the labels attached to the cans containing the article, regard- 
ing the said article and the ingredients and substances contained therein, 
was false and misleading in that the said statement represented that the 
article was red shade, to wit, a product to be used in the coloring and com- 
position of food, and for the further reason that it was labeled as aforesaid 
so as to deceive and mislead the purchaser into the belief that it was red 
shade, to wit, a product to be used in the coloring and composition of food, 
whereas, in truth and in fact, it was not red shade, but was a mixture 
composed of color and inert material which had no value as a food or as a 
product which entered into the composition of food.
On November 7, 1923, the case having been dismissed as to W. B. Wood,, 
individually, a plea of guilty was entered on behalf of the W. B. Wood Mfg. 
Co., and the court imposed a fine of $200 and costs.
HOWARD M. GORE, Secretary of Agriculture.