United States v. Forty Barrels

• Decision Date: 22 May 1916
• Docket Number: No. 562,562
• Citation: 60 L.Ed. 995,36 S.Ct. 573,241 U.S. 265
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err., v. FORTY BARRELS and Twenty Kegs of Coca Cola, the Coca Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, Complainant
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

241 U.S. 265

36 S.Ct. 573

60 L.Ed. 995

UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err.,

v FORTY BARRELS and Twenty Kegs of Coca Cola, the Coca Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, Complainant.

No. 562.

Argued February 29, 1916.

Decided May 22, 1916.

Assistant Attorney General Underwood and Mr. Elliott Cheatham for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Harold Hirsch, J. B. Sizer, A. W. Chambliss, and W. D. Thomson for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 266-269 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Hughes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a libel for condemnation under the food and drugs act (June 30, 1906, chap. 3915, 34 Stat. at L. 768, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8717), of a certain quantity of a food product known as 'Coca Cola' transported for sale, from Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was alleged that the product was adulterated and misbranded. The allegation of adulteration was, in substance, that the product contained an added poisonous or added deleterious ingredient, caffeine which might render the product injurious to health. It was alleged to be misbranded in that the name 'Coca Cola' was a representation of the presence of the substances coca and cola; that the product 'contained no coca and little if any cola' and thus was an 'imitation' of these substances and was offered for sale under their 'distinctive name.' We omit other charges which the government subsequently withdrew. The claimant answered, admitting that the product contained as one of its ingredients 'a small portion of caffeine,' but denying that it was either an 'added' ingredient, or a poisonous or a deleterious ingredient which might make the product injurious. It was also denied that there were substances known as coca and cola 'under their own distinctive names,' and it was averred that the product did contain 'certain elements or substances derived from coca leaves and cola nuts.' The answer also set forth, in substance, that 'Coca Cola' was the 'distinctive name' of the product under which it had been known and sold for more than twenty years as an article of food, with other averments negativing adulteration and misbranding under the provisions of the act.

Jury trial was demanded, and voluminous testimony was taken. The district judge directed a verdict for the claimant (191 Fed. 431), and judgment entered accordingly was affirmed on writ of error by the circuit court of appeals (132 C. C. A. 47, 215 Fed. 535). And the government now prosecutes this writ.

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. The evidence shows that the article contains sugar, water, caffeine, glycerine, lime juice, and other flavoring matters. As used by the consumer, about 1 ounce of this syrup is taken in a glass mixed with about 7 ounces of carbonated water, so that the consumer gets in an 8-ounce glass or bottle of the beverage, about 1.21 grains of caffeine.' It is said that in the year 1886 a pharmacist in Atlanta 'compounded a syrup by a secret formula, which he called 'Coca-Cola Syrup and Extract;" that the claimant acquired 'the formula, name, label, and good will for the product' in 1892, and then registered 'a trademark for the syrup consisting of the name Coca Cola,' and has since manufactured and sold then syrup under that name. The proportion of caffeine was slightly diminished in the preparation of the article for bottling purposes. The claimant again registered the name 'Coco Cola' as a trademark in 1905, averring that the mark had been 'in actual use as a trademark of the applicant for more than ten years next preceding the passage of the act of February 20, 1905,' and that it was believed such use had been exclusive. 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; after the meltings the syrup is conveyed to a cooling tank and then to a mixing tank, where the other ingredients are introduced and the final combination is effected; and from the mixing tank the finished product is drawn off into barrels for shipment.

The questions with respect to the charge of 'adulteration' are (1) whether the caffeine in the article was an added ingredient within the meaning of the act (§ 7, subdiv. 5th), and, if so, (2) whether it was a poisonous or deleterious ingredient which might render the article injurious to health. The decisive ruling in the courts below re- sulted from a negative answer to the first question. Both the district judge and the circuit court of appeals assumed for the purpose of the decision that as to the second question there was a conflict of evidence which would require its submission to the jury. (191 Fed. 433, 132 C. C. A. 47, 215 Fed. 540.) But it was concluded, as the claimant contended, that the caffeine—even if it could be found by the jury to have the alleged effect—could not be deemed to be an 'added ingredient' for the reason that the article was a compound, known and sold under its own distinctive name, of which the caffeine was a usual and normal constituent. The government challenges this ruling and the construction of the statute upon which it depends; and the extreme importance of the question thus presented with respect to the application of the act to articles of food sold under tradenames is at once apparent. The government insists that the fact that a formula has been made up and followed and a distinctive name adopted does not suffice to take an article from the reach of the statute; that the standard by which the combination in such a case is to be judged is not necessarily the combination itself; that a poisonous or deleterious ingredient with the stated injurious effect may still be an added ingredient in the statutory sense, although it is covered by the formula and made a constituent of the article sold.

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. 5th¹). With this section is to be read the proviso in § 8, to the effect that 'an article of food which does not contain any added poisonous or deleterious ingredients shall not be deemed to be adulterated or misbranded' in the case of 'mixtures or compounds which may be now or from time to time hereafter known as articles of food, under their own distinctive names,' if the distinctive name of another article is not used or imitated, and the name on the label or brand is accompanied with a statement of the place of production. And § 8 concludes with a further proviso that nothing in the act shall be construed 'as requiring or compelling proprietors or manufacturers of proprietary foods which contain no unwholesome added ingredient to disclose their trade formulas, except in so far as the provisions of this act may require to secure freedom from adulteration or misbranding.'²

In support of the ruling below, emphasis is placed upon the general purpose of the act, which, it is said, was to prevent deception, rather than to protect the public health by prohibiting traffic in articles which might be determined to be deleterious. But a description of the purpose of the statute would be inadequate which failed to take account of the design to protect the public from lurking dangers caused by the introduction of harmful ingredients, or which assumed that this end was sought to be achieved by simply requiring certain disclosures. The statute is entitled, 'An Act for Preventing the Manufacture, Sale, or Transportation of Adulterated or Misbranded or Poisonous or Deleterious Foods, Drugs, Medicines, and Liquors,' etc. In the case of confectionery, we find that it is to be deemed to be adulterated if it contains certain specified substances 'or other ingredient deleterious or detrimental to health.' So, under § 7, subdivision 6th, there may be adulteration of food in case the article consists in whole or in part of 'any portion of an animal unfit for food, whether manufactured or not, or if it is the product of a diseased animal, or one that has died otherwise than by slaughter.' In United States v. Lexington Mill & Elevator Co. 232 U. S. 399, 409, 58 L. ed. 658, 661, L.R.A.1915B, 774, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 337, it was said that 'the statute upon its face shows that the primary purpose of Congress was to prevent injury to the public health by the sale and transporta- tion in interstate commerce of misbranded and adulterated foods. The legislation, as against misbranding, intended to make it possible that the consumer should know that an article purchased was what it purported to be; that it might be bought for what it really was, and not upon misrepresentations as to character and quality. As against adulteration, the statute was intended to protect the public health from possible injury by adding to articles of food consumption poisonous and deleterious substances which might render such articles injurious to the health of consumers.' See also United States v. Antikamnia Co. 231 U. S. 654, 665, 58 L. ed. 419, 424, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 222, Ann. Cas. 1915A, 49; H. R. Report, No. 2118, 59th Cong., 1st Sess., 6-9. It is true that in executing these purposes Congress has limited its prohibitions (Savage v. Jones, 225 U. S. 501,...