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63
is a tendency for the public to make an increasing number of complaints about samples of
food and apart from the three samples of milk mentioned above and also the sample of sugar
a sample of butter was submitted because it was claimed that it was margarine whereas it
consisted of genuine butter A complaint was made that a sample of ice cream was rancid
but no sign of rancidity could be detected.
A cake was also submitted for analysis because it was thought to be rancid but your
analyst was of the opinion that it was due to the type of spice employed in flavouring the
cake.
Some cream filled biscuits likewise submitted for rancidity contained a so-called cream
filling which was very rich in fat mixed with icing sugar and the large quantity of fat
combined with the sugar created a feeling of nausea if several biscuits were eaten but the
fat itself was not rancid
A sample of cream was submitted with the complaint that it contained a piece of wire
but examination of the so-called wire showed that it came from the tinned iron plate of the
container and that it had been cut in this fashion by the tin opener when complainant
opened the tin„
Food and Drug Legislation during 1955
There has been little actual increase in the amount of food and drug legislation during
the year, though much has been introduced, including the Food and Drugs Act 1955 and the
Hygiene Regulations, 1955. The Food and Drugs Act is a Consolidation Act which came into
operation in 1956, and it will not be discussed in this report, since the principal implica
tions were mentioned in last year's report Similarly the Hygiene Regulations only came
into force in 1956 and it remains to be seen how some of its articles are to be interpreted
from the public analyst's standpoint, The Food Standards (Butter and Margarine) Regulations
1955, and the Labelling of Food (Amendment) Order 1955,, also came into force in 1956,
The Food Standards Committee issued a Supplementary Report on Colouring Matters in
Foods- This list proposes the inclusion of titanium oxide and ultramarine as permitted
dyes and also the deletion of one "coal-tar* dye, Baking Brown AW, and the addition of Black
PN to the List previously proposed, The earlier Report proposed that the addition of added
colours to foods should be declared to the purchaser, but this Supplementary Report recog
nises that there are cases where this would be inadvisable. It is suggested that the
presence of added colour to fish should be declared,, but that it should not be declared in
the case of bread flour confectionery, butter cheese, margarine, sugar confectionery ice
cream and other frozen products,,
It is pointed out in the Report that the identification of colours in foods will not be
straightforward but it is hoped that with the introduction of modern techniques it may be
possible for analysts to develop methods for their identification Reports of this type
taken with those on the addition of anti oxidants to foods, and limits for lead arsenic
copper. zinc„ and tin illustrate the increasing complexity of food analysis, when it is
remembered that these are only one facet of the work involved
Thomas McLachlan