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104
importance to the trade. Condensed milk was a necessary article
of commerce, and was much used on board ship and in foreign
countries, and contended that ever since condensed milk had been
made it had been prepared with the addition of sugar. In the
process of manufacture the moisture was driven out of the milk,
and sugar in the form of thick syrup was added. Sugar was added
for the purpose of preserving the milk, because without the use of
sugar, fermentation would be set up in the milk and there would be
rapid decomposition. Milk was condensed both with the cream
and without the cream, and it was more necessary that the skimmed
variety should contain sugar than the whole variety—the full cream
milk—because the fat in the latter acted somewhat as a preservative.
Condensed milk, to which sugar had not been added,
decomposed rapidly when the tin was opened. The only alternative
to using sugar would be "to use acid, such as boracic, for preserving
the milk." The milk to which sugar had been added would keep
for a week after the tin was opened, whereas the unsweetened
brand would go bad within a few hours. As an article of food, it
was much more useful with the sugar than without it. It was
known to the public that in the process of condensing milk, sugar
was used. There were hundreds of brands of condensed milk, and
only four brands did not contain sugar, and in each case they were
labelled "unsweetened," Most of the condensed milk was imported,
and at the port of entry duty was paid on the sweetened
brands. It had never before been suggested by the authorities that
the milk ought not to contain sugar. Sugar in condensed milk
stood in the same position as sugar in preserved fruit or jam.—
Mr. Richard Bannister, Analyst, gave evidence for the defendant,
and stated, as his opinion, that sugar acted as a preservative in
condensed milk. Of the condensed milk sold, about one-tenth was
unsweetened and nine-tenths sweetened. Mr. C. G. Moor also said
sugar acted as a preservative in milk. He admitted that sugared
condensed skimmed milk was not adopted for infants' food on
account of the deficiency of fat, and further, that the label upon the
tin should contain a statement to the effect that the article contained
added sugar.—Alfred Gordon Salamon contended, sugar in the
quantity used in condensed milk was necessary as a preservative.—