View report page

109
Cream, &c.
five fresh creams were genuine, but one bottled cream
was reported inferior as it was sold as " double " cream
and should therefore have contained a minimum of 50 per
cent. of fat, whereas only 47.6 per cent. was found. This
deficiency is, however, not serious in an article such as
cream where a tendency to separation exists; therefore the
deficiency was considered too small to warrant returning
the sample as adulterated.
Two " half-price " creams were genuine, the fat content
being 24.0 and 24.2 per cent. respectively.
Of six tinned creams five were reported against. One
contained only 23.1 per cent. of fat, but as no claims to
richness occurred in the label it was only reported inferior.
Three others were reported adulterated, the fat content
being only 20.0, 19.9 and 23.0 per cent., respectively,
whilst extravagant claims regarding their quality were
printed in the labels. Two were described as " rich " and
the other as " pure thick Devonshire cream—rich English
cream." This last was guaranteed to contain a minimum
of 23 per cent. of butter fat and the amount found by
analysis was the bare minimum. The fifth sample was
reported adulterated because it contained 1 per cent. of
cane sugar; the label on this was false and contradictory,
the following statements occurring therein :—
Guaranteed absolutely pure—absolutely free from
preservatives or other foreign substances. A small percentage of cane sugar is added to bring out the full
rich flavour of the cream."
It will be noted that the second sentence contradicts the
first, for cane sugar is a foreign ingredient in cream. The
absurdity of a full rich flavour " which requires " bringing out " by a sweetening agent should be apparent, but
the guile of the packers in using the word " rich " to
describe only the flavour—not the quality—would probably