View report page

on the 25th August, 1915, Mr. Goff Clark represented the Council
and Mr. Kirby appeared for the defendants. The defence was that
although the butter might be unsuitable for sale in the ordinary way
over the counter, it was quite sound and fit for cooking purposes,
1 .e., making cakes, pastries, confectionery, etc. Mr. Ashdown
and Dr. Brown gave evidence in support of the case that the butter
was unfit for human consumption directly or indirectly, and Mr.
Bodmer corroborated to the extent that it was unsuitable. Dr.
Oldfield, Dr. Teed, analytical chemist, Dr. Rideal, consulting
chemist, and Mr. Partington, trade expert, gave evidence that the
butter was not unfit for human consumption and the magistrate
after examining the butter decided that it was fit for human consumption.
No order was therefore made under the Regulations
and the butter has been released."
In connection with the Town Clerk's report on the 82 casks of
butter imported from America in June last and stopped by us under
the Unsound Food Regulations as being, to use the legal phraseology
of the Regulations, " unsound or unwholesome or unfit for human
consumption," I desire to make some general remarks which apply
not only to this case in particular but to the question of unsound food
in general.
It is a good principle, founded on universal experience and
upported by medical science, that not only should the food we eat be
sound and wholesome, but that the raw materials from which it is
manufactured should partake of the same qualities. In the War
Office specification for tenders for the supply of food for the troops,
this principle is adhered to, and I cannot conceive Public Bodies
which cater for inmates under their care, such as Boards of Guardians,
adopting any lower standard, and specifying that "cooking butter"
must not have more than 3·5 per cent. free fatty acids, expressed as
oleic acid, and will not be rejected on account of rancidity, or that
"cooking eggs" must not have more than one "spot" or have more
than 0.5 per cent. free sulphur expressed as sulphuretted hydrogen.
Such a specification would expose them to ridicule and be properly
looked upon as a scandal. The fact is that these authorities have
taken steps on medical advice to protect those under their care,