harmful or deleterious dye or preservative may be used in the preparation of food and food products. The board was influenced in framing this portion of the decision by the following considerations: "Among those substances added in greater or less amounts to food and food products for the purpose of coloring or of inhibiting bacterial action are those chemical substances which may be classed generically as dyes and preservatives. It is clearly the intent of the Food and Drugs Act to inhibit the use of these substances as well as any others which are poisonous and deleterious to health. Whether or not dyes and preservatives are harmful is a matter which can only be determined by experimental evidence, and both classes have been subjected to investigation with the main idea of determining this point. Not only have investigations been conducted by many leading experts in this and other countries, but extended investigations have been instituted by the Department of Agriculture. "The classes of substances which have been investigated by the Department of Agriculture include essentially all of the well-known preservatives, including such types as boracic acid and borax, salicylic acid and its salts, benzoic acid and its salts, sulphurous acid and its salts, and formaldehyde. "The evidence which has accumulated as the result of all these researches conducted in the Department of Agriculture, as well as the result obtained as the outcome of other researches, both in the United States and abroad, points so strongly to the poisonous properties of preservatives that their use as a class should, under the Act, be inhibited in foods and food products. "In order to obtain the views of eminent physiologists and hygienists, health officers, and physicians in the United States as to the propriety of using preservatives in foods, a list of questions was sent out from the Department of Agriculture, to which a large number of replies was received. These questions and the replies have been tabulated as follows: 1. Are preservatives, other than the usual condimental preservatives, namely, sugar, salt, alcohol, vinegar, spices, and wood smoke, injurious to health? 2. Does the introduction of any of the preservatives which you deem injurious to health render the foods injurious to health? Affirmative Total 222 29 251 3. If a substance added to food is injurious to health, does it become so when a certain quantity is present only, or is it so in any quantity what 4. If a substance is injurious to health, is there any special limit to the quantity which may be used which may be fixed by regulation of the law? Affirmative Negative Total 68 183 251 5. If foods can be perfectly preserved without the addition of chemical preservatives, is their addition ever advisable? Affirmative Total. 12 247 259 "It can be readily seen from this tabulation that the opinions expressed point overwhelmingly to the fact that preservatives as a class are injurious to health, and hence their use is, under the Act, inhibited."" 1 Memorandum to F. I. D. 76. PURE FOOD-19. § 232. Sulphur Fumes. "The decision further provides that pending investigation of process of manufacture and of effect upon health, the Department of Agriculture will institute no action where the fumes of burning sulphur are used in the manufacture of foods and foodstuffs containing acetaldehyde, sugars, etc., with which the sulphur dioxid may combine, but the decision limits the total amount of sulphur dioxid in a liter of wine, or a kilogram of other food products, to 350 milligrams, and further provides that only 70 milligrams of this may be in a free state; the residual sulphur dioxid must be in combination with the acetaldehyde, sugars, etc. "While it is true that sulphurous acid and its salts belong to the class of preservatives which are prejudicial to health, and in consequence their use is inhibited, yet with respect to sulphur dioxid, under certain conditions of use (as in the sulphuring of wine casks in the preparation of wine, in the preparation of evaporated or dried fruits, in the manufacture of certain sugars, etc.), it is rendered more or less inert. There is evidence to show that when sulphur dioxid is used as above indicated it combines, for example, with the acetaldehyde of the wine, thus forming a compound (so-called aldehyde sulphurous acid) which is relatively harmless. In dried fruits in the preparation of which sulphur dioxid has been used there is reason for believing that it may all be present in this so-called "combined" condition, probably to a large extent, if not wholly, in combination with the sugars present. There is also reason for believing that the sulphur dioxid may be combined with protein and cellulose, but probably all of these "combined" forms are not equally inert from a physiological point of view. "The evidence is not sufficiently conclusive to condemn at present the use of sulphur dioxid under those conditions in which it may be present in this combined form, but it is necessary to limit its presence in such cases as to avoid the presence of excessive quantities of free sulphurous acid, the toxic effect of which is marked. "The limit in food products has been set at 350 milligrams of total (that is, both free and combined) sulphur dioxid per liter, or kilogram, with an allowance of not over twenty percent of this amount in a free state. This standard has been reached by a study of a large number of analyses of typical samples of food products which were obtained either in the open market or at ports of entry. That the use of sulphur dioxid in the preparation of wines, evaporated fruits, molasses, etc., has in some cases been greatly abused is apparent from a study of these analyses. To illustrate this point the following analyses of evaporated and dried fruits, purchased in the open market, are given: "Especially is this abuse apparent when a comparison is made with other samples, likewise obtained in the open market. "Other figures might be quoted to show that very wide. variations exist in the total amount of sulphur dioxid found. in this class of foods, but these few are sufficient to illustrate the point that there is no 'commercial necessity' for the existence of sulphur dioxid in the very large amounts. shown in the first set of analyses, and in order to protect the public and minimize any possible danger that might arise from undue sulphuring it is necessary to restrict the use of sulphur dioxid within the limits suggested in the accompanying food inspection decision. "The limit of 350 milligrams of sulphur dioxid is also exceeded in a few samples of molasses on the market to-day. Molasses has been found containing as much as 1,395 milligrams of sulphur dioxid per kilogram. Such cases of undue sulphuring are comparatively rare, and the results of many analyses show that in this class of foodstuffs the sulphur dioxid may by care be reduced to amounts wholly within the limits set. "The following analyses show the amount of sulphur dioxid usually found in molasses and the ordinary variations to which it is subject: Milligrams of sulphur dioxid New Orleans molasses. New Orleans molasses. New Orleans molasses. B. and O. brand, New Orleans molasses and corn sirup.. per kilo. 310 155 25 8 211 Porto Rico molasses. New Orleans molasses. Magnolia brand Rockwood molasses (New Orleans). 100 359 "In the manufacture of wines it is usually considered that the need for sulphur dioxid is greatest in the nonfortified sweet wines, and in general it may be said that the larger the amount of sugar present the greater is the amount of sulphur dioxid used, but such a rule is by no means universal, illustrating the fact that in sound wines the use of sulphur dioxid is often carelessly controlled and no special pains taken to limit the amount to the quantity necessary to achieve the purpose for which it is used, and thus avoid unnecessary amounts. "An examination of the wines as they are found to-day on the market shows that it is desirable to restrict the amount |