Charles Evans Hughes

“ The term 'food,' as used in the statute, includes 'all articles used for food, drink, confectionery, or condiment . . . whether simple, mixed, or compound' (§ 6) . An article of 'food' is to be deemed to be 'adulterated' if it contain 'any added poisonous or other added deleterious ingredient which may render such article injurious to health.' (§ 7, subdiv. 5th [1] ) . ”

“ Further, if an article purporting to be an ordinary food product, sold under its ordinary name, were condemned because of some added deleterious ingredient, it would be difficult to see why the same result could not be attained with impunity by composing a formula and giving a distinctive name to the article with the criticized substance as a component part. ”

“ It is well known that in many kinds of foods in their natural state some quantity of poisonous or deleterious ingredients exist. How far these substances may be deleterious to health when the food articles containing them are consumed may be a subject of dispute between the scientists, but the bill reported does not in any way consider that question. If, however, poisonous or deleterious substances are added by man to the food product, then the bill declares the article to be adulterated, and forbids interstate traffic.'
This statement throws light upon the intention of Congress. ”

“ So, in order to avoid the threat that those who produce a perfectly legitimate article from a natural product might be held liable because the product contained nature's poison, it was thought sufficient to provide against the adding of any new substance that was in itself a poison, and thus emphasizing the evils of existing conditions in nature's product. That is the reason the word 'added' is in the bill. Fusel oil is a poison. ”

“ Equally extreme and inadmissible is the suggestion that where a 'proprietary food' would not be the same without the harmful ingredient, to eliminate the latter would constitute an 'adulteration' under § 7, subdivision 3d, by the abstraction of a 'valuable constituent.' In that subdivision Congress evidently refers to articles of food which normally are not within the condemnation of the act. ”

“ Nature has so combined them that they are not a danger or an evil,-that is, so long as they are left in the chemical connection in which nature has organized them; but when they are extracted by the artificial processes of chemistry they become a poison. You can extract poison from grain or its products and when it is extracted it is a deadly poison; but if you leave that poison as nature embodied it in the original substances, it is not a dangerous poison or an active agency of poison at all. ”

“ Nor is there basis for the conclusion that the designation had attained a secondary meaning as the name of a compound from which either coca or cola ingredients were known to be absent; the claimant has always insisted, and now insists, that its product contains both. But if the name was found to be descriptive, as charged, there was clearly a conflict of evidence with respect to the presence of any coca ingredient. ”

“ That the term 'adulteration' is used in a special sense. For example, the product of a diseased animal may not be adulterated in the ordinary or strict meaning of the word, but by reason of its being that product the article is adulterated within the meaning of the act. The statute with respect to 'adulteration' and 'misbranding' has its own glossary. ”

“ First. As to 'adulteration.' The claimant, in its summary of the testimony, states that the article in question 'is a syrup manufactured by the claimant . . . and sold and used as a base for soft drinks both at soda fountains and in bottles. ”

“ A 'distinctive name' is a trade, arbitrary, or fancy name which clearly distinguishes a food product, mixture, or compound from any other food product, mixture, or compound.
' (b) A distinctive name shall not be one representing any single constituent of a mixture or compound. ”

“ If you extract it, it becomes a single active agency of destruction, but allow it to remain in the combination where nature has placed it, and, while it is nominally a poison, it is a harmless one, or comparatively so.' For the Senate bill, the House of Representatives substituted a measure which had the particular provisions now under consideration in substantially the same form in which they were finally enacted into law. ”

“ It is further stated that, in manufacturing in accordance with the formula, 'certain extracts from the leaves of the coca shrub and the nut kernels of the cola tree were used for the purpose of obtaining a flavor,' and that 'the ingredient containing these extracts,' with cocaine eliminated, is designated as 'Merchandise No. 5.' It appears that in the manufacturing process water and sugar are boiled to make a syrup; there are four meltings; in the second or third the caffeine is put in ”

“ It is not to compel manufacturers to produce particular kinds or grades of foods. One of the principal objects of the bill is to prohibit in the manufacture of foods intended for interstate commerce the addition of foreign substances poisonous or deleterious to health. ”