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used for this exchange are generally of vegetable origin and are
intended primarily for persons suffering from coronary disease, and the
reconstituted milk products are not to be used for babies. The
Regulations are unfortunate in that they "do not apply to any food
intended at the time of sale for export from the United Kingdom" ,
because certain foreign governments accept foods, which comply with the
requirements of the British Food and Drugs Act to be admitted into
their countries and accept the certificates either of any public analyst
or of certain recognised public analysts to this effect. Any
Regulations should, therefore, be so worded that they apply only to
countries, where there are no restrictions. Another unfortunate
provision in these regulations is that the labelling requirements do
not apply to sales to catering or manufacturing businesses or to sales
for immediate consumption. One would have thought that the casual
consumer or eater-out is as much entitled to know what he is consuming
as the purchaser buying a pre- packed food for use in the home.
The Arsenic in Food (Amendment) Regulations, 1960, increase the
amount of arsenic in brewers' yeast to be used in manufacture from 2.0
to 5.0 parts per million when calculated on the dry matter, but make no
other alteration to the existing regulations,
The Report of the Departmental Committee on "Milk Composition in
the United Kingdom* occupies some 86 pages and makes 23 main recommendations,
which may be summarised as follows:-
(a) Milk should continue to be sold as it comes from the cow
except for separated and other grades, which must be clearly labelled:
(b) Efforts should be made to improve the quality of milk both
with regard to fat and solids-not-fat, though the committee is more
concerned about the solids-not-fat than the fat content:
(c) The presumptive minimum standards should in five or ten years
time become minimum legal standards for sale to the consumer:
(d) The Hortvet Freezing test should be made legal subject to
certain provisos:
(e) Differential payment schemes should be introduced according
to the quality of the milk:
(f) Better provision should be made for the testing both of bulk
and of individual cow milks.
The Food Standards Committee Report on Bread and Flour occupies 19
pages and includes 24 general recommendations regarding flour and 10
regarding bread, but it also contains 51 pages of Appendices. The
main provisions are that all flour required to be fortified at present
should continue to be fortified for the present and that no change
should be made in the quantities prescribed, that all sampling should
be made at mills or docks, and that only certain bleaching and improving
agents should be permitted. It is recommended that there should be a
statutory list of ingredients permitted to be used in bread, that
descriptions of "protein", "milk" and "slimming" breads should be
controlled, and that exaggerated claims for enrichment or energyproducing
qualities of bread should be prohibited.
(Signed) THOMAS McLACHLAN.