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was 6 per cent deficient, in meat.
A product labelled "Beans and Pork" contained no meat, other than a
little loose fat inside the pack.
Eight cans of corned beef, and one of pork appeared to be incorrectly
labelled as analysis showed that the nitrite and nitrate contents given on
the label were in the wrong order.It was, however, discovered that the
reason for this is that very little nitrate is now used in meats cured in
the can and that the nitrite enters into combination with the blood in the
meat, whereas the nitrate remains virtually uncombined and unattacked.
A complaint was received about the unsatisfactory condition of a steak
and kidney pie but, although the bacteriological count was satisfactory,
the filling was a very unsavoury mess. It was suggested that the manufacturers
be advised tb improve the quality of their pies. With another meat
pie some suspected foreign matter turned out to be a portion of a large
blood vessel, probably from the beef employed.
A beefsteak pie and some pork brawn, the subjects of complaints, were
both found to be mouldy on receipt and, whilst the label on the pork brawn
package provided a space for an expiry date, this had not been filled in.
A chicken vegetable soup was alleged to have contained beetles, and
2 beetles were submitted with a packet containing a portion of the made
up soup. The beetles were Dermestes vulpinus, but this beetle does not normally
contaminate food, and in view of the fact that no holes or dirt could
be found in the packet it was thought the beetles must have gained access
to the soup mix after it had been opened.
Some chicken stock cubes possessed a cheesey odour, and were evidently
old stock and a dumpling soup contained pieces of paste, much more like
very small noodles than dumplings, and the description was therefore considered
misleading.
The label of a chicken and cereal product was not quite correct as
one of the ingredients was listed simply as "polyphosphates" and a soup
mix described as "Peas with Ham Soup Mix" contained only pea flour so that
it should have been described as "Pea with Ham Soup Mix". In the case of
chicken noodle soup there was insufficient chicken present to warrant the
description.
"Grease", a translation of the French "graisse" or fat, and not "edible
fat" was given as an ingredient of a vegetable soup with meat and
analysis showed that the product "could have been labelled as "meat soup
with vegetables" on account of the quantity of meat present.
A product described as "red lobsters" consisted of prawns, with 45
loose heads, 61 separated bodies, and 38 prawns together with 6.4 per
cent of debris, including a piece of wood, making the general appearance
very unsavoury. Another sample of dried fish contained a few larval stages
of the larder beetle, and as both these products came from the same shop
it was suggested that the premises should be investigated. A bottled salmon
roe contained 80 parts per million of boric acid, which is not permitted
preservative in this country.
The varieties of fish present in a canned fish product were not declared
in the correct order of magnitude, and the label showed illustrations
of garnishings not present in the can. The ingredients of a fish
soup mix were also decleared in the wrong order, and those of two lobster
soup mixes were in four languages which did not correspond on translation
B. 24