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51
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ANALYST
for the year ended. 31st December. 1963.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of
the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
During the year 1963, 300 samples of food, all submitted informally,
were examined.
The number adulterated or about which some comment was made was 13.
The incidence of these criticisms may be classified as follows:-
Number of samples Number of samples
examined adulterated, etc.
Milk 100 1
Other foods 200 12
The winter at the beginning of the year was extremely cold and there
was much snow on the ground, causing trouble in the feeding of cattle. This
was reflected in the poor quality of the milk obtained during the months
of February, March and April.
A sterilised milk was reported as satisfactory but inferior because
the freezing point was - 0.532°C, although the solids - not-fat were only
8.43 per cent.
Several foods were submitted because of complaints by members of
the public.
A bread roll was received with the complaint that it contained
rodent excreta, but the foreign material was found to consist of burnt bread
from a baking plate, due to carelessness in the bakery.
Some raisins were reported to have an oily taste. The Mineral Oil
in Food Order, 1954, allows any dried fruit to contain 0.5 per cent by weight
of mineral oil, and although these raisins did not contain as much as this a
poor quality liquid paraffin had been employed with the result that the raisins
did in fact possess a slightly paraffiny odour and taste. They were reported
as inferior.
An apple pie and a blackcurrant pie were submitted because of mould
growth. Examination showed that the mould growth in both cases had occurred
after cooking, but they were stale when sold and had not been stored under
satisfactory conditions.
Two packets of skinless beef sausages were also badly attacked by
mould, and had obviously been kept for too long under improper conditions.
The manufacturers agreed that the sausages must have been sold out of time