LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY, Washington, D. C., September 8, 1905. SIR: I have the honor to submit for your inspection and approval a manuscript containing a compilation of the Federal food laws, together with the food laws of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, and Connecticut, with the recommendation that it be published as Part I of Bulletin No. 69, Revised, of the Bureau of Chemistry. Respectfully, W. D. BIGELOW, Acting Chief. INTRODUCTION. During recent years the number of States enforcing food laws has increased, and the necessity of collecting and unifying these laws has become more apparent. There is little uniformity in the laws of different States with respect to requirements of composition and labeling of food products. The food which meets all the requirements of a law in one State is sometimes forbidden to be sold in another. A manufacturer may be required to put a certain label on a food that is sold in New York and another on a similar package if sold in Illinois or in Michigan. This state of affairs has tended to make food manufacturers and dealers' antagonistic to a great deal of the food legislation which has been enacted. They find it difficult to keep informed respecting the requirements of the laws and regulations of the different States in which their products are sold. This difficulty is increased in the case of the consumer. The lack of uniformity, even if the laws were more permanent, would cause considerable annoyance and uncertainty, but one of the most troublesome features of State legislation is found in the many changes made in the laws regulating food inspection and control in the various States. The first edition of Bulletin No. 69 of the Bureau of Chemistry contained the laws in force in the various States on July 1, 1902. The following winter sessions of the legislatures were held in forty-five States. In three of these States new food laws were enacted, and in fourteen States very material changes were made in the laws which had previously been enforced. In the summer of 1903 Bulletin No. 83, Part I, was published, in which sixty-five pages were devoted to changes in food legislation in eighteen States. In the winter of 1903-4 the legislatures of fifteen States, including Porto Rico, met. In three States material changes were made in the food laws at this session of the legislatures. These changes in legislation occupied eleven pages of Bulletin 83, Part II, of this Bureau. In the winter of 1904-5 the legislatures met in forty-three States. It was the original intention to publish again the new legislation and the amendments enacted at these sessions. It was found, however, that the changes were so extensive that a revision of the entire bulletin, giving all 263740 the legislation now in force in the United States and Canada, seemed preferable to again printing the new laws and amendments. In some cases the new laws are identical with the old, with the exception of a few unimportant words. Although but three years have elapsed since the first publication of Bulletin No. 69, it will be found that the present revised edition is materially different from the original compilation. The importance of harmonizing the requirements of the several States becomes more important as food legislation in the various States receives greater attention. It is believed that this compilation will do much toward securing in the near future this desirable end. It will afford to the food dealers in the various States a means of comparing the laws of each State with those of others which it will be difficult to find in any other publication. The comparison will also be of great benefit to the manufacturers and consumers and will prove of special interest to those who in the future may be charged with the enactment of State and National legislation relating to food control. H. W. WILEY, |