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87
A sample of cream, one of "coffee" cream and one of
"half-price" cream were genuine. In the "coffee"
cream there was 30.9 per cent. of fat and in the "halfprice"
cream 29.9 per cent. The use of such names as
these by the trade raises an interesting question as to what
is to be done with cream poor in fat sold with no qualifying
label or notice and at the price of ordinary cream. If one
firm sells cream at a low price, is another to be permitted
to sell a similar article at full price?
A "double" cream was reported inferior on account of
its fat content being as low as 47.7 per cent. In the Report
of the Reorganisation Commission for Milk the following
standards were suggested:—
Breakfast Cream 12 per cent. butter fat.
Single Cream 25 ,, ,, ,,
Double Cream 50 ,, ,, ,,
This sample did not satisfy even the very low standard
here suggested. Some milks, admittedly freak ones, taken
in Hammersmith, have been found to be richer in fat than
"breakfast" cream. Reorganisation might very well be
attempted upon a higher plane than this; the requirement
for fat in each grade should be about 20 per cent. higher.
"Single" cream, by which the ordinary purchaser would
doubtless understand cream as ordinarily sold by averageclass
dairies, would then have to contain, say, 45 per cent.
of fat, a quite ordinary figure which is frequently exceeded.
The Commission's "double" cream is nothing more than
ordinary cream under a high-sounding title. Good Devonshire
clotted cream with upwards of 60 per cent. of fat
would presumably present the Commission with a problem
in nomenclature.
The tinned creams examined this year have been a
trouble to report upon. In the majority of cases very
careful consideration has had to be given to the labels on
the tins.