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contained the posterior portion of a beetle adhering to the outer crust.
The beetle appeared to have been attached to the roll before baking.
A wholemeal loaf contained a piece of hard white flour due to the flour
having been wetted and dried before being embedded in the bread.
An almond ring cake showed several pieces of mouse droppings
embedded in the covering icing layer. Inside the almond ring contained
a large number of pieces of burnt cereal matter, probably derived from
dirty baking tins. Both the manufacture of this almond ring and its
storage had been most unsatisfactory.
A home made marmalade contained only 62.3 per cent of soluble
solids as sucrose, whereas the Food Standards (Preserves) Order, 1953,
requires not less than 68.5 per cent. With 62 per cent only of soluble
solids, this product would not keep indefinitely and it was already
beginning to crystallize. An increasing number of jams and preserves are
appearing on the market at the present time which do not conform to the
legal standard for soluble solids, but which contain more than the legal
minimum of fruit. Many small manufacturers of so-called health products
make these jams and many imported jams do not comply with our regulations,
which are believed by them to be faulty.
A packet of frozen steakburgers, which had been placed in a
refrigerator, on opening appeared limp and possessed a slightly offensive
smell and a white fluffy growth. Microbiological examination showed a
total count of 8,847,000 bacteria per gram growing at 37°C. and 24,000,000
bacteria per gram growing at 27°C. while the fluffy growth was due to a
mucor mould which was sporing. These steakburgers must, therefore, have
been defrozen for some period and had probably reached atmospheric temperature
for 3 or 4 days during their existence.
Complaint was made regarding some corned beef showing black marks.
This foreign material consisted of mottled black skin which was rather thick
and probably came from the interior of the mouth of an ox or a cow or from
some similar interior/exterior membrane, but not from the alimentary canal
generally.
The meat filling of a pork pie was mouldy. The mould was a mucor
type and was present in two distinct colours, the old growth was black and
at least a week old, while the newer growth was white.
Some beef suet contained only 79 per cent of fat and was, therefore,
4.8 per cent deficient in fat. The Pood Standards (Suet) Order, 1952,
requires shredded suet to contain not less than 83 per cent of fat.
Three cans of salmon steaks, one opened, were submitted because a
complainant alleged that the contents of the opened can had caused violent
stomach pains and severe diarrhoea. The lacquer had separated from the side
of the complaint can and the can was slightly rusted. The salmon contained
20 parts per million of iron and 7.4 parts per million of tin, but this was
insufficient to have caused the symptoms shown by the complainant. The
sample was reported as inferior. The other two cans submitted contained
excellent canned salmon, but the lacquer was again absent from a considerable
portion of the tin-plate, and it was thought the cans had been coated with