Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 155, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1918 — MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT LOSS [ARTICLE]

MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT LOSS

Inspectors Detect Diseased Vegetables and Fruit Arriving at Destination. COUNTY AGENT IS NOTIFIED Belling Value of Inferior Product Is Decreased When Arriving on Market—Steps Taken to Combat Various Disorders. To check the loss from plant diseases in shipments—which also means a loss of time, labor, material, and transportation—the food products inspectors of the bureau of markets stationed in most of the large receiving centers now keep close watch for plant diseases on fruits and vegetables arriving on the markets. Bad Product Not Wanted. Diseased fruits and vegetables are not wanted in the markets any more than on the farm, and when carlot shipments arrive showing evidence of plant diseases their selling value is decreased even if none of the produce must be thrown away. Sometimes, in the case of very perishable crops, like berries or lettuce, there are serious losses of food because the shipments carried plant diseases when loaded. While no shipper would knowingly load badly infected fruits or vegetables, such produce may reach the markets in poor condition because the disease was present when loaded and developed in transit. This is especially true where shipments are made without providing proper ventilation or refrigeration. Steps to Combat Disease. Whenever shipments of produce suffering from plant diseases arrive the Inspectors immediately notify the shipper, and through the pathologists of the department of agriculture the county agent in the locality where the diseased shipment originated is instructed to take steps to combat the disease. Although the inspection service has been in operation only a few months as a part of the general inspection work of the department in certifying to shippers the condition of carlot shipments as they arrive at markets, already it has resulted in the detection of diseases In many shipments, and has aided growers and plant pathologists of the department in controlling the outbreaks of diseases and preventing their spreading to other sections of the country.