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86
to the larger number of those of excellent quality. So before referring
to the irregularities, it should be pointed out that the general
standard of foods sold in the Rorough is high, the number of cases
of real adulteration is small and most of the irregularities consist in
infringements of the Preservative Regulations or the failure to comply
with some or other legal standard or limit. There are also cases
of mis-description.
No new Regulations under the Food and Drugs Act have come
into force during the year, but a matter of considerable importance
has been the sitting of a Departmental Committee on Food Law,
which is deliberating upon the desirability or otherwise of setting up
standards for certain articles of food other than milk. I have had the
privilege of giving evidence before this Committee in favour of
Standards for certain major articles of diet which seemed in need of
such Standards. If the Committee recommends Standards, it will, I
think, be found necessary to make other amendments of the Act to
cover matters of description and advertisement. I have upon more
than one occasion referred to the frequency of mis-descriptions or
misleading labels. Certain instances have come under my notice
during the year in the Borough, such as Lemonade and Lime Juice
and Soda, which contained no evidence of the presence of lemon or
lime products. Even the acid was tartaric and not citric. In view of
the prominence now given to vitamins in dietetics, persons partaking
of these beverages might reasonably suppose that they got some small
modicum of vitamin in Lime Juice, whereas in fact they get none from
mixtures of tartaric acid and sugar appropriately flavoured. In this
connection it may be noted that a chemical method for the determination
of Vitamin C in such products is now available, whereas
only a short time ago recourse had to be made to elaborate feeding
experiments.
Of the milk samples, only two have been found to be unsatisfactory.
One was deficient in fat to the extent of 23 per cent. and
another, alleged to be pasteurised, showed no evidence of having been
so treated. The average composition of the milks is good, the figures
being very close to those of previous years, viz.:—
Total milk solids 12.36 per cent.
Fat 3.59
Solids not fat 8.77 „
Bacteriological tests were made of some of these samples.