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A concentrated orange drink contained only 13 per cent instead of 25 per
cent of fruit juice and the ingredients of a "Carrot Drink" were not disclosed
although a carrot drink is not a soft drink and the ingredients
must be declared. No alcohol could be detected in snails cooked with champagne
and only the drained weight was given whereas the Weights and
Measures Act 1963 requires the gross weight to be stated on the label, and
the vegetables in a can of mixed vegetables were not described in their
correct order, the list of ingredients including "egg plants" which is
not a correct description for aubergines. Similarly a canned vegetable
salad contained only carrots, potatoes and peas, whereas your analyst is
of the opinion that a vegetable salad should contain at least five different
varieties of vegatables otherwise the vegetables should be named.
Some Moong Dal, the small beans used for bean shoots for oriental cooking,
contained 0.18 per cent of stones and although this was not surprising
in a product of this type no stones should be present.
The packet of a sponge mix was leaking on receipt and should have had a better
closure and the illustration of a cake on a packet of baking powder was
misleading without the words "for cakes etc." underneath. Similarly there
was no name and address of the manufacturer on the label of a product resembling
pease pudding and its list of ingredients included the word 'crush',
which is meaningless.
Contamination with tin in canned goods continues to cause trouble. A tomato
concentrate contained 710 parts per million, three times the accepted limit
a tomato juice contained only 89 parts per million, but was stated to have
a metallic taste and to have caused vomiting, five samples of grapefruit
juice contained from 145 to 245 parts per million and it was impossible
to agree to a suggestion that these should be relabelled so that they could
reach a fresh and cheaper market, two cans of prunes contained 290 and
250 parts per million, and a canned tamarind nectar contained 155 parts
per million of tin. Once the interior of cans has commenced to deteriorate
the speed increases often causing unpleasant flavours as distinct from the
actual tin content.
A dried apricot paste contained 406 parts per million of sulphur dioxide
which is 16 per cent in excess of the permitted maximum and a sample of
sausages contained 159 p.p.m. of sulphur dioxide without declaration. A
prawn Balichow contained a preservative which was not declared. If the
product was supposed to be a fish product and not a pickle then no preservative
must be included, but if one's imagination could be stretched
to describe it as a pickle, the presence of the preservative must be
noted in accordance with the Regulations. A soya sauce, a mixed pickle
and a vindaloo paste were incorrectly described, the last because it was
really a "pickle" or "chutney". All contained preservatives which were
not declared in accordance with the Regulations.
Two samples of "Baby Beetroots" should have been labelled "Pickled Baby
Beetroots", and a product sold as "Pumpkin in Refined Sugar" included
distilled vinegar in greater proportion than the sugar, and also salt.
There appears to be a tendency to avoid the use of the word pickle at the
present time, as evidenced by these labels.
Stewed apples contained sugar and should have been described as "sweetened"
and a carton containing packets of different flavoured custard powders
was merely labelled "Custard Powder".
The list of ingredients of various products a pork roll with stuffing,
a lemon barley water, a mango oil pickle, a mixed pickle, a savoury
spread, and a liquid fruit pectin all purported to give lists of ingredients,
but were all incorrect, the print being indistinct, the names in
the wrong order or they were misdescribed.
B. 35