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40
Food.
Considerable attention has been directed during 1922
to the question of purity of food-stuffs and the conditions
under which they are manufactured or kept.
It is satisfactory to note that the percentage of
adulterated milk samples, viz., 2•9 per cent., is the
lowest ever recorded in any year in the borough. This is
probably the result of the persistent efforts made
by Inspector Jones during past years to impress upon
the milk sellers in the borough that all milk sold must
come up to the standard laid down by the Board of
Agriculture. Inspector Jones has also paid particular
attention to the bakehouses in the borough and an
endeavour is being made to raise the general standard
of cleanliness of these places. Another matter which
received attention during the year was the adulteration
of various prepared food-stuffs with preservatives such
as boric acid, salicylic acid, etc. The use of these
preservatives appears to be becoming more and more
prevalent and they are now eaten in so many articles of
diet without their presence being declared that it is
possible for anyone in the course of a day's eating to
take into his system a very considerable amount of
these preservatives. Special action was taken by the
Public Health Committee in connection with the
presence of boric acid in sponge cakes, sponge fingers
and sponge biscuits, these being articles which are
eaten to a considerable extent by invalids and young
children. The source of the boric acid in these articles
is preserved liquid egg shipped from China and elsewhere.
Protracted negotiations have taken place with
the Liquid Egg Trade on this subject, and it is satisfactory
to relate that in the early part of 1923 an
agreement was reached between the trade and the
Ministry of Health that liquid eggs preserved with boric
acid should not be used in the preparation of the abovementioned
articles. This, however, is only one of
many problems connected with preservatives in foodstuffs,
and the attention of the Ministry of Health has
been directed to this matter by many Municipalities
and by several organisations dealing with public health.
It is hoped, therefore, that the Ministry will go into this