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the vitamins; at present only one of these can be determined by
chemical methods and for the others recourse must be had to biological
methods which lie outside the scope of the Public Analyst.
In general the result of the analytical investigations have been
satisfactory. There have been a number of instances of small adulteration
or infringement of the regulations, but gross sophistication is
rarely found in the Borough.
There is a tendency on the part of some few manufacturers to
issue labels or descriptions which are exaggerated or ambiguous, yet
often they do not make any statement which is demonstrably false.
For instance, rum and coffee was found to contain very little caffeine
and only 1 per cent, of alcohol. It will be appreciated that when a
teaspoonful of this is diluted to a teacup there is for all practical
purposes no rum and very little coffee, yet it could not be stated that
there was no rum in the bottle though the maximum possible must
have been about 2\ per cent, in the essence itself. Again, a Devon
Cream Toffee contained only 2 per cent, of butter-fat, corresponding
to about 4 per cent, of cream, and the remainder of the fat was cocoanut
oil. This composition is far from what is suggested by the name
" Devon Cream."
Of the milk samples the average composition is good, namely:—
Total milk solids ... ... 12-39 per cent.
Fat ... ... ... 361
Solids not fat ... ... 8-78 „
and the individual samples were remarkably uniform; one only was
adulterated, it contained 5-4 per cent, of added water.
Some of the butters and margarines contained small excesses of
water and three contained traces of boric acid.
Other infringements of the Preservatives Regulations were three
sausages and one minced beef which contained sulphur dioxide.
There was also an instance of the substitution of artificial vinegar
for malt vinegar; artificial vinegar is merely coloured acetic acid, and
in my opinion it is unfortunate that it may be sold as vinegar without
qualification, because most people do not take the trouble to specify
malt vinegar and so may receive this diluted acetic acid instead of the
superior brewed and fermented product.