NOTICE OF JUDGMENT NO. 2398.
(Given pursuant to section 4 of the Food and Drugs Act.)
MISBRANDING OF PRESERVES.
On January 26, 1912, the United States Attorney for the Eastern 
District of Missouri, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agri- 
culture, filed in the District Court of the United States for said dis- 
trict an information against the St. Louis Syrup & Preserving Co., 
a corporation, St. Louis, Mo., alleging shipment by said company, 
in violation of the Food and Drugs Act, on or about December 7, 
1910, from the State of Missouri into the State of Wisconsin, of a 
quantity of preserved fruit which was misbranded. The product 
was labeled: " Premium Brand. Average net weight 36 oz. * * * 
Preserved Fruits Blackberry-Apple Contains Added Phosphate 
St. Louis Syrup & Preserving Co., St. Louis, Mo."
Examination of three samples of the product made by the Bureau 
of Chemistry of this Department showed the following weights: No. 
1, 34£ ounces; shortage, 4.2 per cent. No. 2, 35J ounces; shortage, 
2.1 per cent. No. 3, 34J ounces; shortage, 3.1 per cent. Average 
weight of three packages, 34J ounces; average shortage, 3.1 per cent. 
Misbranding of the product was alleged in the information for the 
reason that the label thereon regarding the article, to wit, "Average 
net weight 36 oz.", was false and misleading, in that said statement 
would deceive and mislead the purchaser into the belief that the 
product contained in each of the packages was 36 ounces in weight, 
whereas, in truth and in fact, it did not weigh 36 ounces net but 
materially less than 36 ounces net, and the product was further 
misbranded in that it was shipped in package form and the contents 
of each package was stated in terms of weight as follows: "Average 
net weight 36 oz.", whereas the weight of the contents of each of the 
packages was not plainly and correctly stated on the outside thereof 
for the reason that each of the packages contained a materially less
60128°—No. 2398—13
amount of the product than 36 ounces net weight and the average 
shortage of the three packages was 3.1 per cent.
On January 10, 1913, the defendant company entered a plea of 
guilty to the information and the court imposed a fine of $25 and 
costs.
WILLIS L. MOORE, 
Acting Secretary of Agriculture.
WASHINGTON, D. C, March S, 1913.
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