vegetable colors, per se, yet the use of colors even of vegetable origin, open to the objection of excessive arsenic, etc., should not be used for coloring food products.""

8241. Coloring of Butter and Cheese.

"Numerous inquiries, of which the following is an illustration, have been received by the department:

'Will you kindly inform me concerning the coloring of butter and cheese under the pure food law? Would it be unlawful to color butter and cheese as now practiced?'

"The coloring matter of butter is specifically permitted in the law of August 2, 1886 (24 Stat., 209), and the coloring of cheese in the law of June 6, 1896 (29 Stat., 253). It is held by the department that the Food and Drugs Act does not repeal the provisions of the Acts referred to above and the addition of harmless color to these substances may be practiced as therein provided, and that the presence of a coloring matter specifically recognized by Acts of Congress as a constituent is not required to be declared on the label.""

§ 242. Benzoate of Soda.

The Referee Board of Consulting Scientific Experts in February, 1909, made the following report, as the result of their investigation, on the use of benzoate of soda in food: (1) "Does a food to which there has been added benzoic acid, or any of its salts, contain any added poisonous or other added deleterious ingredients which may render the said food injurious to health? (a) In large quantities? In small quantities?

66

(b)

(2) If benzoic acid or any of its salts be mixed or packed with a food, is the quality or strength of said food thereby reduced, lowered, or injuriously affected? (a) In large quantities? (b) In small quantities?

"To obtain satisfactory answers to these questions the board has felt it necessary to carry through a careful inves1 F. I. D. 117.

1 F. I. D. 51.

tigation of the effect of benzoic acid or some one of its salts on the nutrition and general health of man. A thorough study on the literature giving the results of work done by various investigators on the physiological effects of benzoic acid and its salts, together with a study of reported clinical and medical observations, therapeutic usage, etc., have made it apparent that additional work was needed to render possible a conclusive answer to the above questions.

"With a view to limiting the scope of the work, while at the same time meeting all practical requirements, our investigation, with the consent of the Secretary of Agriculture, has been confined to a study of the effect of the sodium salt of benzoic acid, viz., sodium benzoate.

"To make this experimental inquiry as thorough as possible, and to minimize the personal equation, three independent investigations have been carried out-one at the medical school of Northwestern University, in Chicago, under the charge of Prof. John H. Long, of that institution; a second at the private laboratory of Prof. Christian A. Herter, of Columbia University, New York City; and the third at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, in charge of Prof. Russell H. Chittenden.

"The same general plan of procedure was followed in all three experiments. A certain number of healthy young men were selected as subjects, and during a period of four months these men, under definite conditions of diet, etc., with and without sodium benzoate, were subjected to thorough clinical and medical observation, while the daily food and excretions were carefully analyzed, and otherwise studied, and comparison made of the clinical, chemical, bacteriological, and other data collected. (For details, see the individual reports.) In this manner material has been brought together which makes possible conclusions regarding the effects of small and large doses of sodium benzoate upon the human system.

"In fixing upon the amount of sodium benzoate that should constitute a 'small dose,' we have adopted 0.3 gram of the salt per day. Manufacturers of food products, which in their view require the use of a preservative, are in general.

content with 0.1 percent of sodium benzoate. This would mean that in the eating of such a preserved food the consumer would need to take 300 grams per day, or nearly two-thirds of a pound of preserved food to ingest an amount of benzoate equal to our minimal daily dosage. Looked at from this point of view, our dosage of 0.3 gram per day seemed a fair amount for a 'small dose,' one that would clearly suffice to show any effect that small doses of the salt might exert, especially if continued for a considerable length of time. In all these four experiments this daily dosage was continued for a period of about two months. Under 'large dose' was included quantities of sodium benzoate ranging from 0.6 gram to 4 grams per day. Such a daily dosage was continued for a period of one month. In a few instances somewhat larger doses were employed.

"As the amount and character of the daily diet exert a well-known influence upon many of the metabolic or nutritive changes of the body, as well as upon the bacterial flora of the intestines, attention is called to the fact that the three investigations differed from each other in the amount of protein food consumed daily, thereby introducing a distinctive feature which tends to broaden the conditions under which the experiments were conducted.

"The conclusions reached as a result of the individual investigations are given at length in the separate reports herewith presented, together with all of the data upon which these conclusions are based.

"The fact should be emphasized that the results obtained from these three separate investigations are in close agreement in all essential features.

"The main general conclusions reached by the Referee Board are as follows:

"First.-Sodium benzoate in small doses (under 0.5 gram per day) mixed with the food is without deleterious or poisonous action and is not injurious to health.

"Second.-Sodium benzoate in large doses (up to 4 grams per day) mixed with the food has not been found to exert any deleterious effect on the general health, nor to act as a

poison in the general acceptance of the term. In some directions these were slight modifications in certain physiological processes, the exact significance of which modifications is not known.

"Third.-The admixture of sodium benzoate with food in small or large doses has not been found to injuriously affect or impair the quality or nutritive value of such food.""

§ 243. Meats and Meat Products.

The regulations adopted under the Food and Drugs Act do "not apply to domestic meat and meat-food products which are prepared, transported or sold in interstate or foreign commerce under the meat-inspection law and the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture made thereunder."" The regulations governing the meat inspection by the United States Department of Agriculture permit in meat and meat products the use of " common salt, sugar, wood smoke, vinegar, pure spices," and saltpeter. No colors can be used except such as are approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. The use of colors and preservatives permitted by the Meat Inspection Act is permitted under the Food and Drugs Act.

1 F. I. D. 104, amending F. I. D. 76 and F. I. D. 89. See F. I. D. 89, F. I. D. 101.

The Department of Agriculture

accordingly follows the suggestions of this report.

1 Regulation 39.

2 See Appendix.