View report page

74
nature, substance or quality" of an article demanded.
Trade practice varies considerably in different parts of the
country and it is left to the Courts to fix a standard to which
an article should attain in each case.
In many other countries, notably America, Australia and
New Zealand, definite standards are laid down by the
Governments, below which no article may be sold.
The absence of legal standards allows many articles of
inferior quality to be sold and as a consequence the consumer
suffers considerable loss. Not only, however, is this
prejudicial to the purchaser but it is unfair to the more
conscientious trader.
In their report the Committee states: "We think the
main thing to be aimed at is that the public, when buying
an important article of food, should know what they are
getting."
At the present time the public often do not know what
they are getting.
As an example, the only legal definition of cream is
" that portion of milk rich in milk fat which has been
separated by skimming or otherwise." There is no requirement
as to the percentage of fat which it shall contain.
This may be 60 per cent. or may be as low as 10 per cent.,
but it may all be described and sold as cream.
Recently many dairies have been widely advertising for
sale what they describe as "economy cream," "half-price
cream" or "coffee cream." How many purchasers of this
cream know what they are getting for their money?
Analysis of samples taken in the Borough show that the
average fat content is about 24 per cent. The percentage of
fat in ordinary cream is about 50. Some firms are now
describing the latter as "double cream," a description
which, to my mind, is very misleading. "Ordinary"
cream should contain this percentage of fat. To call an
article "double cream" implies that it is twice as good as
normal. A sample of tinned cream examined recently was
labelled "Rich thick cream, Superior quality," and it was
further stated to be "highly concentrated. Actually it
contained 19 per cent. of fat.