20642. Action to enjoin and restrain the interstate shipment of adulterated soy¬
bean oil.   U. S. v. Southern Cotton Oil Co. and W. V. Westmoreland.
Consent decree of permanent injunction entered.    (In. No. 262.) 
COMPLAINT FILED :   April 7, 1953, Eastern District of North Carolina, against 
the Southern Cotton Oil Co., a corporation, Hertford, N. C, and W. V. West- 
moreland, district manager of the corporation.
NATURE OF CHARGE : That the defendants were engaged in the manufacture and 
distribution of soybean oil and had been and were, at the time of filing the 
complaint, causing the introduction and delivery for introduction into inter- 
state commerce of soybean oil which was adulterated under Section 402 (a) 
(4) in that it had been and was being prepared, packed, and held under 
insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth.
The complaint alleged further that the insanitary conditions in the cor- 
poration's plant at Hertford, N. C, resulted from the presence of rodent ex-, 
creta on the bags of soybeans and in the soybeans used in the manufacture of 
soybean oil, from the presence of rodents, rodent excreta, cat excreta, bird 
excreta, human excreta, and rodent poison in and around places in the corpora- 
tion's plant where the soybeans used in the manufacture of the oil were stored 
and held, and from the use of flour sweepings in the manufacture of the oil; 
and that the insanitary conditions resulted also from general carelessness on 
the part of the defendants and their employees.
The complaint alleged also that the refining process of the expressed oil 
obtained from the soybeans was such that the oil-soluble portions of the filth 
remained in the soybean oil; and that the defendants had in storage in the 
plant more than 2,500 tons of soybeans which were held under insanitary 
conditions and which constituted a menace to interstate commerce. The com- 
plaint alleged further that the defendants continued to introduce and deliver 
for introduction into interstate commerce adulterated soybean oil, and alleged 
on information and belief that the defendants would continue to do so unless 
restrained.
DISPOSITION: April 28, 1953. The defendants having consented to the entry 
of a decree, a permanent injunction was entered enjoining and restraining 
the defendants from causing to be introduced or delivered for introduction 
into interstate commerce soybean oil or any other such article of food which 
was adulterated within the meaning of Section 402 (a)  (4).
The decree provided further that the defendants be perpetually enjoined 
and restrained from causing the introduction or delivery for introduction 
into interstate commerce of any contaminated soybeans for use in the manu- 
facture of human food provided, however, that the contaminated soybeans 
could be sold for planting or for export. The decree provided also that the 
defendants should be permitted to export as technical grade soybean oil, 
(1) soybean oil which was adulterated within the meaning of Section 402 
(a) (4), and (2), soybean oil expressed from soybeans stored on April 7, 
1953, at the corporation's plant at Hertford, N. C, on condition that such 
exported technical grade soybean oil or contaminated soybeans be in com- 
pliance with the provisions of Section 801 (d).