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The above premises have been registered as those of wholesale dealers in margarine. The
premises of Pearks, Ltd., have also been registered as those of wholesale dealers in mixtures of
butter and milk.
Cream Regulations—The Public Health (Milk and Cream) Regulations, 1912, made by the
Local Government Board in pursuance of the powers conferred by Section 1 of the Public Health
(Regulations as to Food) Act, 1907, came into force on October 1st, 1912. They prohibit absolutely
the presence of any kind of preservative in milk or in cream containing less than 35 per cent. of
milk fat, and the addition of any thickening substance except sugar to cream of any kind. In the
case of cream containing 35 per cent, of fat or more, the effect of the Regulations is to permit the
additions of boric acid, borax or peroxide hydrogen, provided the cream so preserved is sold in
vessels bearing a label with a printed declaration of the percentage of borax or peroxide which has
been used. The addition of any other kind of preservative is prohibited.
On November 5th, 1912, proceedings were instituted against the vendor of a sample of cream
which contained 22 grains or more than ¼ percent. of boric acid per pound. The sample had been
taken before the Cream Regulations came into force, and the summons taken out under Section 3
of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, was for having sold an article of food mixed with a
material so as to render such article injurious to health. The Bench inflicted a penalty of £5, and
the defendant appealed to Quarter Sessions, where judgment was given confirming the conviction.
The Deputy-Chairman agreed to state a special case, but the appellant has now given notice that
he does not intend to proceed to the High Court, and the case is at an end. Before issuing the
new Regulations the Board published a report by Dr. J. M. Hamill, one of their medical inspectors,
on preservatives in cream. On the first page of the report attention is drawn to the recommendation
of the Departmental Committee that the amount of boric acid in cream should not exceed ¼ per
cent, or 17-5 grains per pound, and further that the amount of boric acid present should be
declared by a label on the vessel containing the cream. On this recommendation the Council have
always acted, and where the ¼ percent, limit has been exceeded, proceedings have been instituted,
whether the amount of boric acid present has been declared or not. It is, moreover, difficult to see
what other course the Council can adopt until the recommendation of the Departmental Committee
has been modified by an equally authoritative finding. There is, according to Dr. Hamill, a
preponderance of opinion that boric acid in amounts such as may commonly be found in food, cannot
safely be regarded as incapable of exerting a deleterious action upon health. On the other hand so
small an amount as 0-25 per cent, is not sufficient to keep cream sweet in the hotter months of the
year, and as a concession to trade necessities as they exist at present, Dr. Hamill recommends an
increase in the limit to 0-4 per cent, during the months of May to October inclusive. The report
is not endorsed by the Local Government Board, except in so far as it has been published by them,
and it could not in any case be regarded as an authoritative modification of the views of the
Departmental Committee. The Committee considered the maximum amount that could be permitted
with safety. Dr. Hamill has dealt with the minimum quantity which will keep cream sweet in the
summer and has given no finding on the all important question as to whether cream containing
the specific proportion of boric acid suggested, namely 0-4 per cent., is or is not injurious. The
standard of the Departmental Committee has been disregarded without being overthrown, and the
Board have repeatedly been urged by the Council to end a position which is impossible, both for
traders and for local authorities, by making a statutory limit, if they intend, as traders believe,
to permit the addition of boric acid to cream in amounts not exceeding 0-5 per cent, throughout
the year. The Council's request has so far not been granted, and in the absence of a statutory
limit it has not been found practicable to administer the Regulations.
WATER SUPPLY.
A summary of the sources of the water taken from the Thames to supply Kensington will be
found in the Annual Report for 1912 on page 42. Between March 15th and 17th, and again between
March 22nd to 24th, the water supplied to certain districts in Kensington and other parts of
London was noticed to have a disagreeable fishy or oily taste, and samples were taken by the
inspectors of the Water Board at a house in Kensington Square at the request of the Public Health
Department. The Board's director of Water Examination ascertained that the tainting of the water
had been due to the excessive growth of a species of harmless algae on certain filter beds, which
were at once closed, with the result that no further complaints have been received.