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75
If cream of varying quality is to be sold, a declaration of
the amount of fat which it contains should be required to
be stated upon the label or a definite minimum should be
prescribed for each designation. The public will then know
what they are getting.
The Committee recommend that power be given to the
Ministry of Health to prescribe standards for any article of
food for which it can be shown that such standards are
necessary, but that no standards shall be laid down without
giving the manufacturers and other persons concerned the
fullest opportunity of hearing what is proposed to be done
and submitting their views on the proposal.
Although there has been a decrease in the number of
samples reported to be adulterated, there has, in my
opinion, been a growing tendency to describe many articles
of food, &c., by misleading statements as to their nature in
advertisements and on labels.
As an instance, labels on pots of jam frequently include
such wording as " improved by the addition of other fruit
juices." This declaration on the jar is sufficient to cover
the makers in law and allows an inferior article to be sold.
Again, in the case of certain " tonic wines," advertisements
frequently make exaggerated claims as to the benefits
to be derived from their consumption, which it would be
very difficult to establish as facts.
A big advertising campaign has recently been undertaken
in support of the sale of what are described as "iodine
lockets." According to such advertisements the mere fact
of wearing one of these lockets around the neck or in the
pocket is sufficient to cure or ward off every ailment from
which man has been known to suffer. It would appear that
a law making it compulsory that every member of the community
should wear one of these lockets would solve all
the problems of the Public Health Service.
The Departmental Committee have considered the question
of advertisements and labels of foodstuffs and in their
report they state that they agree with the principle of the
following recommendation put before them.