View report page

- 60 -
The Flour Order, 1953, and the Bread Order, 1953, allow some relaxation
in the control of flour and bread. Any flour, other than that obtained by the
grinding of the whole wheat, must have prepared chalk added to it at the rate
of 14 oz. per 280 lb, sack, and all flour of an extraction rate of less than
80% is required to have added to it iron, vitamin Bl, and nicotinic acid in
sufficient quantity to ensure a minimum stated quantity of each. The Bread
Order permits the sale of breads other than National Bread, so long as National
Bread is available for sale when other varieties are sold.
Mention was made in the report last year of the number of Meat Orders
introduced. The Canned Corned Meat (Prices) Order, 1953, and its amending
Order, and the Offals in Meat Products Order, 1953, removed all controls on
meat products other than the prohibition of the use of certain offals in the
composition of uncooked open meat products for sale for human consumption and
the control of the retail price of canned corned meat.
During the year there were three Orders relating to the use of oils and
fats in foods:- The Oils and Fats Order, 1953, The Oils and Fats (Amendment)
Order, 1953, and The Oils and Fats (No.2) Order, 1953. These Orders relate
primarily to the oils which may be sold with or without a licence from the
Minister of Food, but whereas the first Order laid down standards for dripping
and for horsefat for edible purposes, these standards were revoked by the repeal
of the Order and the promulgation of the No. 2 Order. In many ways it is to be
regretted that, when standards of quality, such as those relating to the quantity
of free fatty acids in fats and oils, have once been introduced, they are not
carried forward in some way in later Orders.
The Public Health (Preservatives etc. in Food) (Amendment) Regulations,
1953, and the amending Order brought into permanent legislation the permission to
employ diphenyl for the treatment of wrappers for citrus fruits. The Regulations
also allow the use of sulphur dioxide as a preservative for certain dried
vegetables, and, for a limited period, the continuance of the addition of borax
to margarine.
During the year the Food Standards Committee by its Preservatives Committee
issued a Report regarding the addition of anti-oxidants to foods. This Report
stated that there is no objection to the continuation of the use of certain antioxidants
in the preparation of foods, such as ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), lecithin
(a natural substance generally associated with fat in foods, especially in yolk
of egg), tocopherols (vitamin E present especially in the germ portions of seeds),
and citric and tartaric acids, all of which are naturally occurring products and
therefore not considered as preservatives in the legal sense of the word. The
Committee also considered that iso-ascorbic acid may be considered as similar to
ascorbic acid. The Committee recommended, however, something new to British,
though not to foreign, law-the legalisation of two other anti-oxidants, namely
propyl gallate not exceeding 0.01% and butylated hydroxyanisole not exceeding
0.02%, the use of both of which is permitted in the United States and in Canada.
The Committee expressed the opinion, however, that no additions should be made to
butter and that a periodic review should be made of the necessity to use any antioxidants
or to permit the use of others, not so far allowed.
The Food Standards (Preserves) Order, 1953, replaced the earlier Food Standards
(Preserves) Order, as modified in 1950, which had been in force since 1944, i.e.,
since one of the worst periods of the war. It abolished the distinction between
fresh fruit and full fruit jams and modified the quantity of fruit required to be