View report page

- 53 -
Ministry of Food during the war, so that the product was badly decomposed.
A metal composition spoon used to reconstitute a further portion of the
powder turned green an standing and it was later discovered that the original
mix of which complaint was made had been prepared in a tinned copper pan.
The green colour evidently resulted from a reaction between the acid of the
dried egg and the copper of the pan.
A "Cocktail Savoury" contained 14.2 per cent, of salt not declared on
the label. The label of this product was reported as incorrect from this
laboratory in June 1953, and the manufacturers had since changed the label,
but the sample was found to be old stock.
A Pepper Sauce was labelled as being made of Vinegar, Red Pepper, and
Salt. As the result of a High Court Action, "Vinegar" in England, unless
otherwise qualified, has been decided to mean malt vinegar, whereas this
sample was made with spirit vinegar. The Sauce was imported from the U.SA.
and the vinegar used was "grain vinegar", which in this country would be
known as Spirit Vinegar. The manufacturers agreed to use the term "Spirit
Vinegar" an new labels which they were having printed.
The description and list of ingredients on. the label of an onion sauce
tablet was illegible, but reference to the makers showed that the sale of
this pack had been discontinued.
A dried mixture for the preparation of Parsley Sauce was quite a good
product, but failed to comply with the requirements of the Labelling of
Food Order, as again the ingredients were not shown clearly on the packet.
The manufacturers stated that they were trying oat this product and were
using packing material they had in stock. If they continued to market the
product the label would be redesigned in a mare suitable form.
Two samples of "Macaroni with Cheese Sauce" preparations were examined
and in the opinion of your Analyst they are inferior. It is claimed that
the macaroni is cooked in 7 minutes, where els in the view of some people,
macaroni which is merely boiled for 7 minutes is very far from cocked, and
the cheese sauce flavouring left much to be desired. The packers had,
however, gone to considerable trouble to make the packages attractive and
if the public cares to bty this type of product they will doubtless do so,
otherwise now that the market for food is so much frees? it will soon disappear.
A sample of Gorgcnzola cheese contained 23 cheese maggots in 12.7 ozs. of
cheese and was reported as inferior. Ideally maggots should be absent from
cheese, but types of cheese such as Gorgonzola are apt to be contaminated
with them. The cheese was well matured and there was therefore a tendency
not only for infestation, but also far a large number of maggots to be present.
A purchaser birring a whole Gorgonzola cheese should be able to judge what he
is buying. This sample was submitted by a shop keeper following a complaint
by a customer.
Some "FLeur de Creme" cheese was labelled in French and on translation
into English this read "60 per cent, of fatty matter". In reality it contained
63.3 per cent, of fat cn the dry matter, but only 26.5 per cent, of fat in the
cheese as sold so that according to English law it was 55.8 per cent, deficient
in fat. This description is permitted under French and various other
continental laws. The importers agreed to take the matter up with the shippers.