Food is considered adulterated when it can be classified under any of the following headings:
=DEFINITIONS OF ADULTERATION.=--(1) If any substance has been mixed or packed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength.
(2) If any inferior substance has been substituted for it, wholly or in part.
(3) If any valuable constituent has been wholly or in part abstracted from it.
(4) If it consists wholly or in part of diseased or decomposed or putrid or rotten animal or vegetable substance, or any portion of an animal unfit for food, whether manufactured or not, or if it is the product of a diseased animal or one who has died otherwise than by slaughter.
(5) If it be colored or coated or polished or powdered, whereby damage is concealed or it is made to appear better than it really is.
(6) If it contains any added poisonous ingredient or any ingredient which may render such article injurious to health; or if it contains any antiseptic or preservative not evident or not known to the purchaser or consumer.
=FOOD LAWS.=--There is now in effect in the United States a rigid law against the offering for sale of any article intended for human consumption which is adulterated in any way, without the fact and nature of such adulteration being plainly stated on a label attached to the package containing the article. This law, however, applies only to articles of this nature which originate, or are produced, in one State and offered for sale in another. The purchaser is, therefore, in a great degree protected, but many foodstuffs or manufactured articles may have their origin within the State wherein they are sold, and in this case the only safeguards are those afforded by the laws of the State, city, or town immediately concerned. If these restraining laws do not exist or if they are not enforced the housekeeper must rely upon her own efforts to protect her family from adulterated food.
=PERMISSIBLE ADULTERANTS.=--In this class are included articles having a food value such as salt, sugar, vinegar, spices, or smoke used as preservatives of meats; or starch when added to the salts composing baking powder, where a certain amount is permissible for the purpose of absorbing moisture.