View report page

120
"The amount of such preservative to be notified by a label upon the
" vessel."
Although the Board of Agriculture have power to adopt this recommendation
under Sec. 4 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1899, which enables
them to make regulations determining, inter alia, what addition of extraneous
matter in cream shall for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts
raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that the cream is not
genuine or injurious to healthy the Board have not thought it desirable
to do so.
Great uncertainty and much litigation having occurred in relation to what
addition of preservative renders such an article of food injurious to health, the
Local Government Board, who have power to make regulations with regard to
food under the Public Health (Regulations as to Food) Act, 1907, directed
Dr. Hamill to specially investigate and report upon the use of preservatives
in cream, with a view to the Board making regulations on the subject if
necessary.
Dr. Hamill's report, dated 11th August, 1909, contained the following
recommendations:—
(1) In the interest of the public health and of the consumer, and also
with a view to removing difficulties which traders in cream are
experiencing on account of present uncertainties, it appears desirable
that effect should be given (subject to (2) below) to the recommendations
made by the Departmental Committee on Preservatives
in 1909, that the only preservative to be used in cream should be
boric acid, borax, or mixtures of these boron preservatives ; that a
maximum limit of boron preservatives calculated as boric acid
(H3BO3) should be prescribed; and that the presence of boron
preservatives should be in all cases declared. These provisions
should also apply to clotted cream.
(2) An exception might, however, be made in respect of the use of
hydrogen peroxide, the addition of which to cream might be
permitted, provided that only traces were allowed to remain in the
cream.
(3) It appears desirable that the question of issuing regulations in this
matter should receive the Board's consideration, and that account
should be taken of the following points:—
(a) The declaration of the presence of preservative to the purchaser,
whether wholesale or retail, should in all cases be adequate,
and the preserved cream as an article of commerce should be
differentiated from cream which contains no added preservative.