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88
REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ANALYST.
(Thomas McLachlan, A.C.G.F.C., F.I.C.)
During the year under review, the percentage of adulteration, 3.99 per cent., was
slightly lower than last year, but still higher than it has been for some years.
Of a total of 579 samples of milk analysed, only two, or 0.3 per cent., were found to be
adulterated. Of these, one contained added water, whilst the other sample was deficient in
fat. Although the quality of the milk supplied in the Borough may not always be quite as
good as it might be, yet it shows that dairymen, as a whole, are delivering a product which
compares very favourably with that supplied to the rest of the country.
Of a total of 330 samples of foods, other than milk, beers, or spirits, 21, or 6.4 per cent.,
were reported adulterated.
One sample of butter contained 3.1 per cent, of excessive water.
Two samples of milk chocolate cream Easter eggs, one informal and the other formal,
were reported against on the grounds that milk chocolate should contain "Roasted, shelled
cacao beans, sugar, and not less than 15 per cent, of the dry solids of full cream milk, with
or without harmless flavouring matter." The substance in question contained 10 per cent,
of added starch, 18 per cent, of a palm kernel fat, and 9.6 per cent, of the solids of skimmed
milk. The actual amount of shelled, fat-free cocoa was about 4.1 per cent. These preparations
are bought mostly by poor children, who believe that they are obtaining real milk chocolate
at a cheap price, and it seems a pity, therefore, that the Departmental Committee on the
Composition and Description of Food, in its Report issued in 1934, recommended that no
standards, or declarations of composition, or definitions, are needed at present for sweetmeats.
Such a decision naturally militates against the interests of reputable manufacturers, and
encourages others to use well-recognised terms for substances of an entirely inferior type.
Considerable activity has been shown by Local Authorities during the year in the
examination of so-called "Cream" pastries. Four samples were examined and returned as
adulterated, on the grounds that the fat employed consisted of margarine and not milk fat.
In this connection it is of interest to note that your Analyst himself obtained samples from
16 representative shops in Westminster and found genuine milk fat was present in 12 of the
samples, three were labelled with fancy descriptions other than cream, and the last sample,
which he considered as adulterated, was unlabelled, but was sold as "Cream."
Two samples of dried fruits and one of butter beans were condemned on account of the
presence of maggots.
A sample of lemonade was sent to the Medical Officer of Health with the complaint that
it had made a person sick. When examined bacteriologically, it was found to contain yeasts,
and also bacteria capable of growing in the presence or absence of air. The bottle had
evidently not been properly sterilised before use. No other complaints were received about
the same batch manufactured by the same firm.
One sample of sausages, which were not labelled to that effect, was found to contain
preservative, contrary to the Preservatives, etc., in Food Regulations.
Ten samples of vinegar were condemned. Some of these were sold as "Malt Vinegar,"
when they contained no malt vinegar, whilst others were deficient in acetic acid, the active
ingredient, which supplies its keeping and most of its flavouring properties.
Of 30 samples of beers and spirits, one sample of whisky contained added water.