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Receptacle for Proprietary or Patent Medicine or Food PreparaLabel - Statement of Contents · Alcohol.

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Where a proprietary or patent medicine or food preparation containing alcohol is put up in a glass bottle enclosed in a pasteboard wrapper, the provisions of St. 1906, c. 386, § 1, as amended by St. 1907, c. 259, § 1, requiring that ". upon every package, bottle or other receptacle holding any proprietary or patent medicine or any proprietary or patent food preparation which contains alcohol . . . shall be marked or inscribed a statement on the label of the quantity or proportion of each of said substances contained therein," are complied with if a proper statement is inscribed upon the pasteboard wrapper, so long as such bottle is contained therein. If, however, the glass bottle is removed from such wrapper and separately sold or offered for sale, the statutes above cited would require a statement of the quantity or proportion of alcohol contained in such bottle to be inscribed upon the bottle itself.

MARCH 26, 1909.

MARK W. RICHARDSON, M.D., Secretary, State Board of Health. DEAR SIR: - You have submitted to me an inquiry as to whether, in the case of a proprietary or patent food preparation containing alcohol, which is put up in a glass bottle enclosed in a pasteboard wrapper, the requirements of St. 1906, c. 386, § 1, as amended by St. 1907, c. 259, § 1, are complied with, if a statement of the quantity or proportion of alcohol contained therein is properly inscribed upon the pasteboard wrapper; that is, whether such statement must also be inscribed upon the glass

bottle.

St. 1906, c. 386, § 1, as amended by St. 1907, c. 259, § 1, provides in part that:

Upon every package, bottle or other receptacle holding any proprietary or patent medicine, or any proprietary or patent food preparation, which contains alcohol, morphine, codeine, opium, heroin, chloroform, cannibis indica, chloral hydrate, or acetanilid, or any derivative or preparation of any such substances, shall be marked or inscribed a statement on the label of the quantity or proportion of each of said substances contained therein. . . . The provisions of section nineteen of chapter seventy-five of the Revised Laws, so far as they are consistent herewith, shall apply to the manner and form in which such statements shall be marked or inscribed.

Section 6 of this statute imposes a penalty upon "whoever manufactures, sells or offers for sale any food preparation in violation of the provisions of this act

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R. L., c. 75, § 19, provides in part that "the required label shall be firmly attached to or printed on the exterior of the said article, on the top or side thereof and in plain sight."

In my opinion, the requirements of these statutes are complied with so long as the glass bottle is within the pasteboard wrapper, if a proper statement is inscribed upon the pasteboard wrapper. The required label is then "on the exterior of the package or envelope." If, however, the glass bottle is removed from the pasteboard wrapper and in this condition sold or offered for sale, these statutes are not complied with unless the statement be properly marked or inscribed upon the glass bottle itself.

Very truly yours,

DANA MALONE, Attorney-General.

Animals-Slaughter or Killing - Healthy Condition Meat from Carcasses of Cattle infected with Tuberculosis-Sale. St. 1908, c. 329, providing in section 1 that "the sale, offer or exposure for sale, or delivery for use as food, of the carcass . . . of any animal which has come to its death in any manner or by any means otherwise than by slaughter or killing while in a healthy condition . . . shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months," does not permit meat derived from the carcasses of cattle infected to any degree with tuberculosis or any other disease to be sold as food within this Commonwealth.

MARCH 25, 1909.

Hon. JOSEPH WALKER, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of an order adopted by the Honorable House of Representatives on March 16, last, requiring the opinion of the Attorney-General as to whether the laws and statutes of this Commonwealth permit cattle which are infected to any degree with tuberculosis to be killed and sold as food in this Commonwealth."

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I am aware of no provision of law which forbids the killing of cattle which are infected with tuberculosis; on the contrary, the killing of cattle so infected is in certain cases expressly re

quired (see R. L., c. 90, §§ 4, 6), and I therefore assume that the Honorable House of Representatives in substance requires my opinion upon the question whether or not the laws of the Commonwealth permit the sale of food products in any form derived from the carcasses of cattle which are found to have been to any degree infected with tuberculosis. Upon that assumption I reply as follows:

The general supervision and inspection of slaughtered animals and of all meat and other food products derived therefrom is vested in boards of health of cities and towns. R. L., c. 56, § 70, provides in part that:

Boards of health of cities and towns may inspect the carcasses of all slaughtered animals and all meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions of any kind found in their cities or towns, and for such purpose may enter any building, enclosure or other place in which such carcasses or articles are stored, kept or exposed for sale. If, on such inspection, it is found that such carcasses or articles are tainted, diseased, corrupted, decayed, unwholesome or, from any cause, unfit for food, the board of health shall seize the same and cause it or them to be destroyed forthwith or disposed of otherwise than for food.

See R. L., c. 56, § 73.

By section 99 of chapter 75 of the Revised Laws it is provided that the proprietor of every slaughter house, canning, salting, smoking or rendering establishment, and of every establishment used for the manufacture of sausages or chopped meat of any kind, who is engaged in the slaughter of neat cattle, sheep or swine, the meat or product of which is to be sold or used for food, shall be annually licensed by the mayor and aldermen of the city, the selectmen of the town, or, in towns having a population of more than five thousand, by the board of health, if there be any.

Section 101 provides that:

A licensee under the provisions of the preceding section shall not slaughter any such animals, or cause them to be slaughtered at such slaughter house or establishment, on any days other than those specified in the application for such license, except in the presence of a member of the board of health or of an inspector appointed therefor by said board; but he may at any time change the days for slaughtering such animals, by giving at least seven days' written

notice thereof to the board or officer authorized to issue licenses, who shall immediately give written notice of such change to such inspector of such city or town.

Section 102 provides that:

Such inspector as has been appointed by the board of health shall be present at all licensed slaughter houses or establishments upon the days designated for slaughter by the licensee, as provided in the preceding section, and there carefully examine the carcasses of all animals at the time of slaughter. Such inspection shall be made in such manner and under such rules and regulations as the board of cattle commissioners may determine and direct. If, in the opinion of an inspector, any carcass, or any meat or product thereof is diseased, corrupted, unwholesome or unfit for food, he shall seize it and cause it to be destroyed, as provided in section seventy of chapter fifty-six.

Section 103 provides that in a slaughtering establishment wherein inspection and branding is not carried on under the rules and regulations for the inspection of live stock and other products, established by the United States department of agriculture, the carcasses of animals slaughtered shall at the time of slaughter, if not condemned, be stamped or branded by the inspector thereof in like manner as those inspected by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry for interstate trade.

By section 104 a penalty is provided for the sale of unstamped carcasses, which shall be deemed unfit for food. See St. 1903, c. 220; St. 1908, c. 329.

R. L., c. 90 (originally St. 1894, c. 491), dealt with the contagious diseases of domestic animals, and in general authorized the Board of Cattle Commissioners, established by its provisions, from time to time to make orders and regulations relative to the prevention, suppression and extirpation of contagious diseases of domestic animals, and relative to the inspection, examination, quarantine, care and treatment or destruction of such animals which are affected with, or have been exposed to, such diseases. Section is as follows:

The board may make regulations for the inspection of meat, which shall conform to the regulations of the United States bureau of animal industry for the inspection of meat for export and for interstate commerce.

By St. 1902, c. 116, the Board of Cattle Commissioners was abolished, and a Bureau of the State Board of Agriculture, to be known as the Cattle Bureau, was created. In section 3 it was provided that the Governor should annually appoint a Chief of the Cattle Bureau, who should have the powers and perform the duties heretofore imposed and conferred upon the Board of Cattle Commissioners, with the additional proviso that no orders or regulations made by him under authority of sections 4 and 7 of chapter 90 of the Revised Laws should take effect until approved by the Governor and Council.

R. L., c. 90, § 12, provided for the appointment in cities, except Boston, and in all towns, of one or more inspectors of animals. By section 13 authority was conferred upon the Cattle Commissioners, whose powers are now vested in the Chief of the Cattle Bureau, to appoint such inspector or inspectors in any city or town which failed to comply with the provisions of section 12, above cited. Sections 14 and 15 deal with the duties of such inspectors. Section 16 is as follows:

An inspector shall comply with and enforce all orders and regulations which may be directed to him by the board of cattle commissioners or by any of its members. If he refuses or neglects so to do, he shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.

The effect of the statutes above cited is to provide that the inspection of slaughter houses, and of the carcasses of cattle slaughtered therein and the products derived therefrom, so far as such inspection relates to food products, is within the jurisdiction of the local boards of health. See R. L., c. 75, $$ 100-108; c. 56, §§ 70-76. It is also apparent from such statutes that the Cattle Bureau of the State Board of Agriculture is vested with authority to examine and inspect living animals and the carcasses of animals which may be killed as a result of such inspection, in order to ascertain whether or not such animals were affected with any contagious or infectious disease. See R. L., c. 90, §§ 12-34. It is to be observed, however, that the inspection conducted by the Cattle Bureau does not include an investigation of the food products derived from cattle, such inspection being within the jurisdiction of local boards of health, but is limited to an inspection of living cattle and a post-mortem examination of cattle which have been killed for the reason

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