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"The use of copper salts in 'greening' preserved foods to be
"prohibited.
"Chemical preservatives of all kinds to be prohibited in the case of all
"dietetic preparations intended for the use of invalids or infants.
"That means be provided, either by the establishment of a separate
"Court of Reference or by the imposition of more direct obligation on the
"Local Government Board, to exercise supervision over the use of
"preservatives and colouring matters in foods, and to prepare Schedules
"of such as may be considered inimical to the public health."
Although four years have elapsed since these recommendations were made
by the Committee, nothing further has been done in the matter.
On 27th September last, in a Report to the Sanitary Committee, I again
referred to the subject, and expressed the opinion that the time had arrived
when the recommendation of the Departmental Committee should be given
a legal value by legislation following on the lines suggested by the Committee.
The results have now been published of an elaborate series of experiments
recently conducted in America to ascertain the action of borax and boracic
acid in food on the human subject. The conclusion arrived at is that boric
acid and equivalent amounts of borax in certain quantities should be restricted
to these cases when the necessity for them is clearly manifest, and when it is
demonstrable that other methods of food preservation are not applicable, and
that in these cases it would also follow, apparently, as a matter of public
information, and especially for the protection of the young, the sick, and the
debilitated, that each article of food should be plainly labelled and branded in
regard to the character and quantity of the preservative employed.
With these facts now added to our former knowledge of the prejudicial
effect such preservatives may under certain conditions exercise on the human
being, it is greatly to be desired that legislation as to their use or restriction
should be promoted at the earliest opportunity.
THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE SALE OF
FOOD AND DRUGS ACTS.
In February, 1904, the Parliamentary Committee were instructed to take
the necessary steps with a view to the Council promoting, in the session of
1905, legislation to enable it, as the Authority dealing with the whole County,
to secure at its own expense the analysis of samples of milk arriving at
railway stations in London and subsequently distributed in the County, and
also to enable the Council, as the Central Authority, to ensure that the Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts should be administered on a sufficiently comprehensive
scale in each sanitary district within the County. In due course these
instructions were carried out, and in the London County Council (General
Powers) Bill, 1905, clauses were inserted to give effect to these views. Clause