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55
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL ANALYST
(THOMAS McLACHLAN, D.C.M.,A.C.G.F.C.,F.R.I.C.,M.I. Biol.)
During the year 1964 800 samples of food were examined. Of these 114 were taken formally and
686 informally.

Some homogenised milk contai ned 1.85 per cent of fat, 8.62 per cent of solids not fat, and
89.53 per cent of water was was 38 per cent deficient in fat.
The dairy was unable to offer any explanation as the bottle was one of a large number filled
and heated at the same time.
Two samples of canned butter, one received as a complaint and the other a follow up, were
examined and although the complaint butter contained 13,000 bacteria the unopened tin contained fewer
that 100 bacteria per gram growing at 37 ºC. The free fatty acids were 12.8% and 10.5% respectively.
The butter was considered to be fit for cooking purposes but would be unacceptable as butter in this
country. It was better than most ghee sold in India and tropical countries and was later stated to be
intended only for cooking purposes on the lines of ghee.
A sample of ice cream contained 4.4 per cent of fat, whereas the Food Standards (Ice Cream)
Order requires ice cream to contain not less than 5 per cent of fat, and this sample was, therefore,
12 per cent deficient in fat.
A product sold as ''Top of the Milk" was reported as satisfactory although it contained only
18 per cent of milk fat. Your analyst, in agreement with most public analysts, maintains that this is
canned cream and must, therefore, contain not less than 23 per cent of milk fat as required by Food
Standards Cream Order, 1951, but unfortunately the sellers have been given a contrary opinion by
the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
A roll and butter consisted of a roll spread with margarine and some bread and butter consisted
of pieces of bread spread with margarine. Another roll and butter was found to contain a mixture of
66 per cent butter and 34 per cent margarine. Rolls and butter or bread and butter must be spread with
butter and not margarine.
Some foreign matter stated to have been found in a bread roll appeared to be a piece of refractory
material from the lining of an oven. Another roll was contaminated with dirt which was distributed
fairly evenly throughout the interior of the roll, the dirt being derived from improperly cleaned baking
trays. A loaf also contained dirt, consisting of gear oil with particles of metal and other dirt from
shafting.
Some slices of bread which were badly attacked by a yellowish red mould were submitted for
the identification of the mould asa result of a complaint. The mould was identified as Monilia
sitophila which is a mould that often gains access to bakeries and causes a lot of trouble There was
also an aspergillus mould present which did not grow as rapidly as the Monilia. The Council believed