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- 3 -
FOOD.
The war has thrown up into greater prominence the part
played by our food supply in the maintenance of health, and
the importance of efficient local administration to insure
its purity and soundness. Ihe following figures illustrate
only a few of these aspects :
Unsound food
Seizures
Surrenders
Samples of Food
taken.
% of adulteration
(all samples)
% of adulteration
(milk samples)
1936-38
average
2
19
724
3.9
2.6
1939
16
690
3.9
2.7
1940
1
41
559
3.2
3.8
1941
3
45
557
6.5
5.3
Some of the prosecutions taken under the Food and Drugs
Act during the year present features of public interest.
In April a food trader was fined £10 with £5. 5. 0. costs
for allowing refuse and filth to accumulate in a shop where
food for human consumption was exposed for sale. The case
was a particularly bad one, of long continued neglect of
elementary measures of cleanliness, despite warning. Anothe
vendor was charged with having in his possession a quantity
of tinned food which was unfit for human consumption, but in
view of his previous good record the case was dismissed upon
payment of £10. 10. 0. costs. Ihe increase of rationing and
other food restrictions has led to the production of alleged
substitutes for foods in short supply and the use of misleading
descriptions for the defrauding of the public. A firm
was charged in October for selling as egg powder a substance
which did not contain anything in the nature of egg. Ihe
case was dealt with more as a warning and the magistrate
dismissed the summons upon payment by the defendant of
£5. 3. 0. costs.