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146
Of these 501 samples, 26 were reported as adulterated. These
included one milk which contained added water, three butters which
also contained an excess of water, a mixture of butter and margarine
(the sale of which is illegal), two alleged cream cheeses in which the
only claim to creaminess was due to an excessive proportion of water;
four samples of Barbados sugar contained substantial quantities of
tin, two jams were deficient in fruit, two sausages contained preservative
(one contained sulphur dioxide without declaration and the other
contained boric acid which is in no circumstances permitted). Five
specimens of canned sardines contained excessive proportions of lead
(in one case so much as 40 parts per million), two bread and butters
bought at restaurants proved to be bread and margarine; two minced
beefs contained preservative contrary to the Regulations, a curry
powder showed an excessive proportion of lead and one whiskyobtained
during the Christmas season showed 12 per cent. of added
water.
There have as usual been a number of cases which give some
difficulty. Tomato products are not infrequently contaminated with
copper. One such sample showed 75 parts per million reckoned on the
dry matter. The proposed limit is 50 parts, but this limit is in my view
rather stringent. Tomato Purees may contain as much as 85 per cent.
or more of water, so that 50 parts of copper per million on the dry
matter means only about 7 parts in the sample. It is difficult to determine
the copper more accurately than one or two parts per million,
and such an error when it is multiplied by 7 in order to show the result
on the dry matter would be important.
Cheese has long been the subject of some difficulty because there
is no proper standard. A cheese of the Cheddar type contains about
35 per cent. of water. When processed cheese was first introduced
15 years or more ago, little or no water was added. Then the water
content in processed cheese crept up to 38 or 40 per cent. It is
gradually going up and some samples have now been found to have as
much as 55 per cent. of water,—that is some 20 per cent. more water
than the original cheese contained, and sold at the price of cheese. It
is in my view desirable that a limit should be prescribed.