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Two Lemonades and two Dandelion and Burdock soft drinks were insufficiently
carbonated and contained only 70 parts per million of benzoic
acid as compared with the permitted 160 parts per million. The products
were not sterile and members of the staff who tried them suffered from
gastric disturbances subsequently.
A jelly containing fruit was liquid at ordinary temperatures with
the fruit floating in the liquid, and as it had to be placed in a refrigerator
to set it was reported as adulterated.
A frozen product consisting of cooked frozen onions with small cubes
of solid sauce was described as "Onions in sauce" whereas the onions were
"With sauce" rather than "In sauce". The chief objection to the product
was that the pack contained 8 ozs. of which 4.8 ozs. were onions and
3.2 ozs. of so-called concentrated sauce. The sauce was to be diluted with
6.6 fl. ozs. of water, according to the directions for serving, and this
brings it to approximately 10 fl. ozs. giving a large volume of sauce to
a small number of onions.
A sample of tea possessed a strong carbolic odour and had probably
come into contact with phenol before it was packed, It was quite unfit
for making an infusion for drinking purposes. Two lemon tea drinks were
artificially sweetened with saccharin and cyclamate, but neither the
description "The new refreshing hot lemon tea drink" nor the label gave
any information that they were sweetened products.
A sample submitted as "Methi", appeared to be a herb and showed an
illustration of a rose flower, buds and leaves on the pack implying that
it was really rose flowers and leaves, whereas it consisted of fenugreek
seeds and should have been labelled as such.
The total ash of some ground ginger was 9.25 per cent, showing that
the sample contained some 7 to 8 per cent of earth which should have been
removed before the ginger was ground.
Two samples of Palm Oil were unsatisfactory. One contained water and
a small quantity of sediment, and both contained an excess of lead, and
were also slightly under weight.
Expressed mustard oil sold in England should be described as "Mustard
seed oil" and not as "Mustard oil" which is steam volatile; and it also
contained a trace of moisture which should have been removed before
bottling.
Some confectionery labelled as "Toffee apples" consisted of a form
of sugar rock, and should therefore not have been described as toffee
apples; whilst so-called chocolate buttons were not chocolate as they
contained skimmed milk powder and practically all the fat was palm kernel
fat. Similarly a product sold as "Scotchoc" was considered misleading as
the word "Choc" would be understood by the ordinary public as being 9hort
for chocolate, whereas this product contained vegetable fat and not cocoa
butter.
Some black material in slices of bread consisted essentially of iron
and vegetable fat with mineral oil and phenols which must have been derived
from the shafting employed in the bakery; and jute fibres, probably from
sacking used by the bakery operatives to protect their hands when holding
baked products from the oven, Were present in a loaf of bread. Another
loaf had several pieces of wood to which minute pieces of starch were
attached embedded in it, indicating that they had probably been baked in
the loaf.
B. 32