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These cases show that it is occasionally possible to upset a
warranty defence, but in the majority of instances the warranty
defence is successful. It is to be hoped that the new Milk Bill
which has been promised for so many years will contain a clause
which in the case of milk adulteration will do away with the warranty
defence and which has proved so successful in thwarting the
efforts of sanitary authorities in the administration of the Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts.
A large firm of milk dealers were summoned by the Council
for selling milk containing 6-8 per cent, extraneous water. The
sample was purchased by the inspector from one of their roundsmen,
who admitted to the inspector at the time the sample was taken
that he himself had adulterated the milk. The firm in question
immediately discharged and prosecuted this man for " wilfully
damaging their milk " and he was convicted and fined £2, and
£2 2s. Od. costs. When the Council's case came into court a few
weeks later the magistrate suggested the withdrawal of the summons
which was accordingly acted upon.
Butter.
One hundred and eighty-one samples of butter were taken
and of these 9 (i.e. 5.0 per cent.) were reported by the Analyst to be
adulterated. This is the lowest percentage of adulteration recorded
in the case of butter samples during recent years. The
form of adulteration found to be present in all these 9 samples was
in each instance foreign fat.
The added foreign fat (margarine) ranged from a minimum
of 47 per cent, to a maximum of 86.0 per cent, vis., 47.0, 48.0,
60.0, 75.8, 79.0, 79.0, 79.5, 81.0 82.8, 86.0.
A very profitable kind of fraud was that of a man whose
practice was to go about with a pony cart selling to householders as
butter, margarine neatly done up in ½lb. packets. He only worked
a particular locality for a few weeks and then moved elsewhere.
The inspector located him serving customers in a street in East
Battersea, and having arranged with an agent to purchase " butter "
from this peripatetic dealer for a week or two, the inspector at
length visited the house where his agent resided and waited inside
until the dealer appeared when two samples were purchased as
butter for analysis and were subsequently reported by the analyst to
be Margarine. The man's cart was then overhauled and some
40-50 lbs. of the same article was discovered contained in 2 baskets.
It was later ascertained that this man had a depot in the neighbourhood
in which he kept his stock. With the inspector I visited
the premises the same day. It proved to be a small shed, in the