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41
hand, the delivery of a part to the seller is not obligatory, unless
he requires it.
The person who takes a sample of milk in the course of delivery, or of
margarine or margarine-cheese forwarded by a public conveyance
is required to forward a portion of sample marked, and sealed, or
fastened up, to the consignor, if his name and address appear on
the can or package containing the article sampled.
PRESERVATIVES AND COLOURING MATTERS
IN FOOD.
The Departmental Committee appointed to enquire into the use of
preservatives and colouring matter in food is doing good work by
collecting evidence from witnesses connected with the production,
distribution, inspection, and analysis of food stuffs. This evidence
will be most valuable as a practical and scientific basis upon
which useful legislation can be founded. At the recent meetings
of the committee a considerale amount of very conflicting evidence
was taken. Some witnesses insisted that the use of antiseptics in
certain food stuffs was essential, and one witness deposed to having
taken as an experiment half a teaspoonful of boracic acid in a
glass of water every morning for three months and had experienced
no ill effects from it; while, on the other hand, witnesses of great
experience gave it as their opinion that if milk, butter, preserves,
etc., were treated on scientific principles, there was not the
slightest necessity for any preservatives whatever. From the
evidence of these last-mentioned witnesses it appears that without
preservatives great care and cleanliness must be practised in order
to preserve food, whereas with the use of preservatives such
cleanliness and care are rendered unnecessary. No doubt this
aspect of the question will meet, at the hands of the Committee,
with the consideration which is its due; and it is reassuring to
those who would prefer at all times pure food, free from the
admixture of any non-alimentary matter, to hear from practical
men that even such perishable articles as milk and butter can
be preserved in a fresh state without such addition.