15009. Adulteration  and Misbranding of black pepper.     IT.  S.  v. 40   Cases
of Peppex-.     Consent   decree   of  destruction  entered.     (F.   &  D.  No.
21244.    I. S. No. 3366-x.    S. No. C-5208.)
On August 23, 1926, the United States attorney for the Western District of 
Wisconsin, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the 
District Court of the United States for said district a libel praying seizure and 
- condemnation of 40 cases of pepper, remaining in the original unbroken packages 
at La Crosse. Wis., alleging that the article had been shipped by the Biston 
Coffee Co., St. Louis, Mo., on or about March 16, 1926, and transported from 
the State of Missouri into the State of Wisconsin, and charging adulteration 
and misbranding in violation of the food and drugs act. The article was labeled 
in part: (Retail package) " 1% Oz. Black Pepper Biston's Brand * * * Im- 
ported and Packed By Biston Coffee Company, St. Louis, Missouri, U. S. A."
Adulteration of the article was alleged in the libel for the reason that a sub- 
stance, ground rice and cayenne pepper, had been mixed and packed therewith 
so as to reduce, lower, and affect its quality and strength, and had been sub- 
stituted wholly or in part for the said article, and in that ground rice and 
cayenne pepper had been mixed therewith in a manner whereby damage and 
inferiority were concealed.
Misbranding was alleged for the reason that the statement "Black Pepper," 
borne on the label, was false and misleading and deceived and misled the pur- 
chaser, and for the further reason that it was an imitation of and offered for 
sale under the distinctive name of another article, to wit, black pepper.
On March 31, 1927, the Biston Coffee Co., St. Louis, Mo., having appeared and 
consented to the entry of a decree, judgment was entered, ordering that the 
product be destroyed by the United Sates marshal.
W. M. JARDINE, Secretary of Agriculture.