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iced bun round, probably derived from stitching from the top of a sack of
flour.
A retired cook complained that a rye loaf had been made from wheat
flour with added caramel, and the loaf together with a sample of rye
flour used were examined. The flour was satisfactory, but the loaf
contained an appreciable quantity of wheat flour with added colouring.
A hole in a loaf had been made by a mouse or a rat but, from the
condition of the wrapper and the size of the hole, it was considered
impossible for this to have occured before the loaf was wrapped. As
two-thirds of the loaf had been used before the hole was discovered it
was thought probably that this had happened in the consumer's house.
A packet of butter contained a piece of hemp fibre, probably from
waste employed to clean down a bench; and another was mouldy when submitted
to the laboratory.
Serveral pieces of wire found in minced meat and vegetable were
identical with the wire employed for price tags; and a portion of metal
found in a steak and kidney pie was identical with the wire attached to a
tag on the meat when received at the factory. A corned beef and pickle
sandwich contained a piece of glass ¾" long and ½" wide tapering at the
end, probably derived from a broken bottle; and another piece of glass,
alleged to have been found in a tin of pork luncheon meat, appeared to have
come from a small dish or similar article. A portion of meat pie contained a
cockroach which appeared to have been cooked in the pie. A Cornish pasty
contained a white hair, which had probably come from a long-haired dog; and
a cocktail stick found in a meat pudding had also been cooked in the pudding.
Foreign matter in a tin of stewed steak with vegetables, and thought
to be wood-louse , was found-to be the head of a flower and may have been present
in the vegetables. Frozen products of roast beef slices in gravy, striploin
steaks, minute steaks, picnic sausage and braised ham showed high bacterial
counts with an excessive number of faecal coliform organisms present,
indicating contamination during preparation. Whilst there were no pathogenic
bacteria, except in the braised ham, it is inadvisable to have too many
bacteria present. Some sliced pork luncheon meat was mouldy, and a liver pate
was also mouldy when the can was opened. This product was also given a
proprietary name without stating it was a registered trade mark and thus
contravened the Labelling of Food Order, 1953, Regulation 4 2(b).
Some Scotch eggs were unfit for consumption due to the high bacteriological
count, and cans of Irish stew together with some of the peeled potatoes used
in the stew were submitted. The cans of stew were blown or springy due to
excessive growth of putrefactive organisms, and the potatoes were badly
contaminated with bacteria and unfit to be used in the stew.
A pork pie was stated to possess an unusual or sour taste but no
rancidity or other decomposition could be detected, the strong flavour being
due to the spice mixture use in manufacture not being properly mixed.
The purchaser of a steak and kidney pie complained that it contained
insufficient meat; but when the pie was examined in parallel with another
purchased as a control it was found that the complaint pie contained
26.7% total meat which complied with requirements, but that the control pie
contained only 20.2% meat. It was also noticed that the complaint pie
weighed less than the control, indicating that more care should have been
exercised in manufacture.
B.31