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(63)
A complaint was received about some sterilised milk which was very
brown and badly caramelised. This was due either to overheating of the
milk during sterilisation or the milk being slightly sour before
sterilisation,
2 samples of Chocolate Confectionery Powder contained skimmed milk
powder and defatted cocoamass but no chocolate powder was present. There
was no declaration of the presence of skimmed milk powder and the ingredients
were not declared in the correct order.
2 Sherbet Powders contained starch, but starch was not declared on
the label, nor may it be a component of sherbet; the samples, therefore,
contravened the Food and Drugs Act and Labelling of Food Order. A Soft
Drink Powder with bubblegum contained 58.% of maize starch and the
bubblegum was largely paraffin wax. It was labelled as a soft drink
powder and therefore starch must not be usod.
2 Samples of Butter Crunch were examined and found to contain not
more than 25 parts of butter in 100 parts of fat. lour analyst was of
the opinion that an article described as Butter Crunch must contain only
butter as the fat which had been used in its manufacture and this view
is in accordance with a press notice issued by the Minister of Food.
Some Dolly Mixture confectionery was reported inferior as it contained
only 39% of sugar and an appreciable amount of starch. As it was
sold off the ration at a cheap price the matter was not really of great
importance from the standpoint of the Food and Drugs Act.
During the year several items of legislation or recommendations of
Committees of the Ministry of Food were issued, which are of general
interest to the public from the point of view of quality.
No less than three separate Meat Products Orders were introduced.
These orders wero of particular interest, in that they were issued primarily
as enforcement orders and not as standards under the Food and
Drugs Act. For this reason Local Authorities and public analysts were
not informed either in advance or at the time of their issue by the
Minister, but it is probable that it is the standards, rather than the
prices, which will eventually be resurrected from their ashes, even the
last order having been revoked in 1953. The first order, S.I. 1952,
No. 507, removed the restriction on the use of soya flour in sausages,
but permitted the inclusion of not more than 6% of skim milk powder in
such products, the milk powder to count as 60% of its weight of meat.
For the first time minimum quantities were laid down for the meat
content of many meat products. As a result of this order the general
methods for the analysis of these meat products were reviewed in detail
by public analysts and manufacturers.