View report page

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ANALYST
During the year 1972, 1126 items of food and drugs were examined. Of these 16 samples were taken
formally, 1012 informally, and the remaining 98 articles were submitted as the result of complaints.
The number adulterated or about which adverse comment was made was 187. The incidence of criticisms
may be classified as follows:-
Number Number
examined adulterated
Milk 44
Milk Bottles 12 12
Other Food 1057 175
Drugs 13
Last year 58 complaints were received and of these 55 were thought to be justified, while this year 98
complaints were received of which 82 were considered justified. Judging by the type of complaint received the
public are more likely to take exception to dirt in any form than to such things as misleading labels and most of
the adverse comments on extraneous matter were the result of complaints by members of the public, although
a few samples submitted for general examination were also found to be unsatisfactory in this respect.
Twelve milk bottles contained dirt of one type or another showing that they had not been properly washed
and your analyst is firmly of the opinion that, so long as mechanical decrating of empty milk bottles without
inspection before washing is continued, so long will this type of complaint be a common one. The types of dirt
included empty tobacco packets, milk bottle caps, soot form foreworks or candles, building rubble, and the
remains of very mouldy milk residues.
A can of evaporated milk purchased by a complainant together with two unopened controls was submitted
as the complainant alleged when she opened her one it was bad; the milk in all the cans contained lumps
resembling sludge due to faulty sterilisation. Some double cream tasted bitter due to decomposition caused by
proteolytic bacteria, the sample having been sold when it was over a week out of date, and a whipped cream
contained 114 million organisms per gramme growing at 22°C.
A packet of butter was very badly contaminated with mould on the exterior, and while another butter
submitted was thought to be rancid according to taste, no chemical sign of rancidity could be detected.
Three complaints were received regarding cheese, and in every case the cheese was very mouldy and, as it all
originated from the same factory, it was obvious that the factory must have been badly contaminated. A
cottage cheese was also mouldy on receipt, coloured matter present in a cheddar cheese was due to mould, and
a cheese spread had an unpleasant odour and a very bitter taste due to the action of proteolytic bacteria.
A yogurt had a vinegary smell due to its being old stock and fermentation had consequently been carried too
far.
Some ham and pork, was thought to be mouldy but the so-called mould was sulphur stain and was really
insufficient to justify a complaint, whereas a smoked ham roll had been improperly cured and the odour was
typical of such ham. A ham and tomato sandwich had been sold when it was mouldy.
Dyed human hair found in a cornish pasty was embedded in the pie filling and had minute fragments of food
attached, and an animal hair 1½" long was found in a cheese roll, but suspected cats hairs in a cooked chicken
and rice meal were embryonic feathers which should have been removed, and the description of the product as
"Chicken and Rice" was incorrect when there was more rice than chicken present.
Many mature eggs and a few larvae of some type of fly were found in a packet of pork and beef chipolatas.
A larva found in some crispbread biscuits was identified as that of the Codling moth.
Four live and one dead larvae of the Dermestidae family were found in a packet of breakfast food, although
no sign of ingress or exit to the packet by a beetle could be detected by careful examination of the inner paper
lining and three control packets submitted at the same time were satisfactory, but another breakfast cereal
contained one live larva and five dead moths.
A dead insect and a number of pieces of black burnt pieces of wheat germ were found in some wheat germ
from which it appeared probable that the insect had been heated. Some rice contained several dead weevils
and also pieces of weevils. Complaint was made regarding the condition of some walnuts. There were a large
quantify of broken nuts present, some bad and attacked by maggots, and they appeared to have been gathered
before being completely ripe and had been im-properly dried.
A dried fruit salad described as "Finest Foods" contained a live and a dead weevil, while the fruit itself was
of poor quality, the prunes being over dried, and as the packet was 5 per cent deficient in weight it was possible
it had dried out even further since packing.
In the case of a steak and kidney pie the meat was decomposing before it was cooked, but a steak and kidney
pudding was contaminated with three varieties of mould, penicillium, Aspergillus glaucus, and Monilia
sitophilia due to insufficient precautions during manufacture.
Some Scotch eggs were submitted because of a sour taste and the high microbiological counts showed that
they were unfit for consumption.
A can of peas possessed a fermented odour but the bacteriological counts were satisfactory, and it was
probable that the peas had been left standing in their cans for some time before being sterilised.
A tomato paste was thought to be bad and the empty can was submitted together with a control unopened
sample. The interior of the empty complaint can was badly corroded as was that of the control can and the tin
content of the unopened sample was 400 parts per million, whereas no food ought to contain more than 250
parts per million of tin.
An orange squash in a plastic bottle was submitted because of its swollen condition and examination of this
and two others as controls showed that the complaint and one of the controls were badly contaminated with
B27