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for ground almonds. Soya flour, pea or bean flour, and oatmeal are all
very much cheaper than almonds, and this preparation was much more like
almond luting than ground almonds.
A sample submitted as Strawberry Flavoured Powder had a predominating
flavour of lemongrass oil, and was essentially an imitation lemon powder.
A sample of suet examined was found to be nearly 100 per cent fat,
but it possessed a very strong odour of decomposition and contained
over 100,000 bacteria per gramme. Your analyst considered it had been
improperly refined. Possibly the butcher had wished to refine it very
carefully but had insufficient knowledge of how to do this.
A sample of mustard mix possessed a mouldy taste and contained 8.9
per cent moisture which is higher than is usual. It contained only
0.22 per cent of volatile oil of mustard as allyl isothiocyanate whereas
the Food Standards (Mustard) (No.2) Order, 1944 (Amendment No.2)
Order, 1948, requires mustard to contain 0.35 per cent of allyl
isothiocyanate. It was also found to contain 130 viable mould spores
per gramme of mustard. It was unfit for food purposes but could be
used for mustard poultices, etc.
A sample of vinegar contained 4.3 per cent of acetic acid but
there was a considerable amount of mould present. It was thought to be
old stock.
Some peppermint tablets were considered incorrectly labelled. They
were labelled "Oil of PEPPERMINT B.P. Tablets" giving the impression
that they were something to do with the Pharmacopoeia whereas they were
not. The words "Oil of" and "tablets " were not in the same size print
as "Peppermint B.P." .
Complaints were made about four other samples, but your analyst
could find nothing the matter with them either chemically or by eating
portions.
The following items of legislation or proposed legislation were
introduced during the year:-
The most important of these was the Food and Drugs Bill, which
had its first reading in the House of Lords in November. This Bill is
primarily a consolidating bill and will enable a large volume of Emergency
legislation to be made permanent. It will also tidy up some of
the law under the existing Food and Drugs Acts, 1938 - 1950. Unless
an Act of this nature were passed it would be difficult to retain a
considerable number of Statutory Orders introduced by the Minister of
Food during and since the war. Unlike much of the temporary legislation