80810. Adulteration of canned oysters.    V.  S. v. 200 Cases and 1,180 Cases of
Canned Oysters.    Default decrees of condemnation rind destruction.    (F.
& D. Nos. 44862, 44864.   Sample Nos. 36556-D, 87800-D.)
This product contained pieces of shell, many of which were small enough to 
be swallowed and to lodge in the esophagus and which were also sharp and 
capable of inflicting injury.
On February 18 and 20, 1939, the United States attorneys for the Southern 
District of California and the District of Kansas, acting upon reports by the 
Secretary of Agriculture, filed in their respective district courts libels praying 
seizure and condemnation of 200 cases of canned oysters at Los Angeles, Calif., 
and 1,180 cases of canned oysters at Topeka, Kans.; alleging that the article 
had been shipped in interstate commerce on or about December 8, 1938, and 
February 1, 1939, by the Mavar Shrimp & Oyster Co., in part from Biloxi, Miss., 
and in part from New Orleans, La.; and charging adulteration in violation 
of the Food and Drugs Act. The article was labeled In part: "Del Haven 
Brand Cove Oysters * * * Packed for Federated Foods, Inc., San Fran- 
cisco" or "IGA Cove Oysters Packed for Independent Grocers Alliance Dis- 
tributing Co., Chicago, Illinois."
Adulteration of the article was alleged in that shell fragments had been 
mixed and packed with it so as to reduce or lower its quality; in that an 
article containing shell fragments had been substituted wholly or in part for 
oysters, which it purported to be; and in that It contained an added deleterious 
Ingredient, oyster shell fragments, which might have rendered it injurious to 
health.
On July 5, 1939, no claimant having appeared for the lot seized at Los 
Angeles, Calif., judgment of condemnation was entered and the said lot was
ordered destroyed. On July 20, 1939, the Mavar Shrimp & Oyster Co. having 
entered an appearance in the action instituted in the District of Kansas, but 
no answer or other pleading having been filed, judgment of condemnation was 
entered and it was ordered that the product be destroyed and that the intervenor 
pay costs.
M. L. WILSON, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.