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issue fresh Regulations. Sometimes one sympathises with the manufacturers
of a food, and at other times one feels that the public are being deliberately
misled. Thus, a chicken stock tablet contained very little
chicken, a lot of salt, hydrolysed vegetable protein, and sodium glutamate;
but the label showed an illustration of a whole chicken with
celery and onions, the last two being incorrectly considered to be
flavours within the meaning of the Labelling of Food Order, 1953;
but in any case the quantities present were so minute that they contributed
very little flavour to the product. The tablets should have been
described as "Chicken flour stock tablets". Similarly two jellies were
artificially flavoured but bore illustrations of a variety of fruits on
their labels. The lists of ingredients of two cake-covering mixtures
were incorrect; in one case, skimmed milk powder not present was declared
as the principal ingredient; and in the other, the presence of
artificial colouring matter was omitted from the list.
The label of a ham cheese spread was decorated with illustrations
of 2 large hams, whereas only a number of very small pieces were present
in the spread. Similarly, a smoked buckling spread bore an illustration
showing a vegetable salad, which was obviously not present; whereas
a canned sardine salad preparation contained, cucumber,"tomato, and oil,
which were not included in the list of ingredients. A Cornish pasty
filling mixture carried illustrations of baked Cornish pasties cut
in two and decorated with parsley, without any note about what was
required to complete the pasties on the front of the panel.
Other illustrations were:-
1. a can of dairy cream with illustrations of strawberries,
2. a cream rice with illustrations of half peaches,
3. a pork and beef luncheon meat with illustrations of lettuce,
parsley and tomato,
4. vegetarian sausages with mashed potato, tomatoes, and parsley,
5. pease pudding with ham, carrots and whole peas,
6. another pease pudding with ham, carrots, peas, tomato, and
parsley,
7. curry and rice with a dish of vegetables,
8. a meat tenderising powder with an illustration of a joint
of beef,
9. a baking powder with an illustration of a finished cake
surrounded by custard,
10. a canned cherry cake with cream on it, and
11. a savoury mince with gravy and parsley.
A more blatant example was one of a sage and onion stuffing mixture
with illustrations of pork and chicken surrounded by small balls of
seasoning. A description "Stuffing" for seasoning balls would appear
to be a contradiction in terms.
Finally, a fortified blackcurrant drink claimed to be sweetened
only with sugar, but apart from mentioning that it was fortified with
Vitamin C did not mention what else was in the bottle. "
Bacteriological Examination of Food
The following samples were submitted for bacteriological examination
to the Public Health Laboratory Services-
Ice cream 19
Milk 33
B. 35