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20
SECTION D
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD
Food and Drugs Act, 1938.
Meat and Other Foods.
It is of manifest importance to the welfare of the community
that the purity of its food supply should remain inviolate. The
adulteration of foodstuffs is by no means a new practice, for
one may turn to the writings of one of the ancient Roman
philosophers, and there read of a case where adulterated wine
was served at a royal banquet. English history of the Middle
Ages reveals many examples of attempts, crude, it is true, that
were made to defeat the machinations of fraudulent vendors.
Advances in analytical science resulted in the introduction
of legislature aimed at preventing these fraudulous practices.
It would be a serious reflection on the administration of
the Food and Drugs Acts and the efficiency of the Health
Department if the gross adulterations which were once rife were
common to-day.
By 1860 the need was apparently seen for a comprehensive
Act, since Adulteration of Food and Drink Act was passed in
that year.
The year 1875 was an important milestone in food and
drugs administration with the passing of the Sale of Food and
Drugs Act, 1875. The next major statute in this field was introduced
in 1928, the Food and Drugs Adulteration Act of that year.
Then, of course, food and drugs legislation came up for
consolidation as part of the general revision of public health law
which took place just before the last war, resulting in the Food
and Drugs Act, 1938.
This Act was born at an unfortunate period since the war
prevented its immediate application, and in the years that
followed the war it became obvious that rapid and accelerated
changes in public opinion and behaviour had created a demand
for more extensive legislation.
The year 1954 has seen a major step forward in the field of
food hygiene by the passing through Parliament of the Food and
Drugs Amendment Act, 1954. This is an amending and
enabling Act and will operate mainly by regulations made
thereunder.
The Act will become operative in the near future, when the
regulations have been made by the Ministers, and while not yet
in force, it introduces considerable changes approaching more
nearly the modern outlook on food hygiene.