Karo If you long for a sweet-eat Karo If you wish for a food both delicious and good-eat Karo If you'd feel secure from a syrup impure-eat Karo NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF HON. A. H. JONES, ILLINOIS FOOD COMMISSIONER. CHICAGO, ILL., 1619 Manhattan Building. To His Excellency, Charles S. Deneen. Governor of Illinois: Dear Sir: I have the honor to herewith transmit this, my ninth annual report of the Illinois State Food Commission, for the year 1908, in compliance with that part of section 1 of the Act of the General Assembly, approved May 14, 1907, and in force July 1, 1907, known as the New Illinois State Food Law. As stated in our last annual report the General Assembly has given evidence that it has considered the recommendations in your last annual message, and consequently, has determined to enter upon a broader and more comprehensive food and dairy policy, adequate in some sense to the needs of our great state, by an entire revision of all the laws pertaining to foods and codifying these laws into one code and modeled after the National Food Law, with the possible exception of the "Oleomargarine Laws of 1897." REVISION OF FOOD LAWS. As an investigation of food legislation in Illinois will show that the laws, pertaining to foods had never been revised and consisted of some eighteen acts, extending back to 1845; and there was a contention that the law of 1899, creating the State Food Commission, and purporting to be a revision of the Food Laws, except as to dairy products, repealed all former laws, so that in prosecution for violations under prior statutes it made it hard to convict, but this contention is now done away with, for under the enactment of the New State Food Law by our present General Assembly, and the entire revision of all the laws into one code, except the law pertaining to "Oleomargarine," it leaves no contention that the law of 1907 is not a full and complete revision of all our food laws. Now that we have an entire revision of our State Food Laws, modeled after the National Food Law, with authority to make rulings and standards and revised and brought down to date to meet the new conditions, it is conceded, by the food officials of the various states of the Union as well as food manufacturers and dealers, that Illinois has the best food law of any state in the Union, and many of the states have already revised their food laws substantially along the same lines and used the New Illinois State Food Law as a model and the people of our state are to be congratulated upon securing such a splendid law. Under our new state food law the power of the commissioner and inspectors are greatly enlarged and the department is clothed with much greater authority as to taking and procuring samples and the right to examine all premises, carriages, cars, or other places where food is manufactured, transported, stored or served to patrons, as will more fully be shown by sections 2, 3 and 4 of our new state food law. COMPARISON OF OLD AND NEW FOOD LAW. Ten very important changes were made by our new state food law. 1st. The new food law requires that every manufactured food product and all foods put up in package be branded with the true name of the article. Prior to this act there was no requirement, except in the case of oleomargarine, renovated butter, vinegar and artificial or imitation extracts, jellies and marmalades. 2nd. The old law of 1899 contained no provisions against misbranding or mislabeling. The new law contains all the provisions of the National Food Law relative to misbranding or mislabeling, and many other provisions in regard to standards of various foods. 3rd. Sanitary inspection is authorized and the use of the 3252 |