View report page

54
The following Regulations have been made under the Act:—
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (General) Regulations, 1928.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Eggs) Regulations, 1928.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Apples and Tears) Regulations, 1929.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Tomatoes and Cucumbers)
Regulations, 1929.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Wheat Flour) Regulations, 1929.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Beef) Regulations, 1929.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Malt Flour and Malt Extract)
Regulations, 1929.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Potatoes) Regulations, 1929.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Broccoli) Regulations, 1930.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Eggs) Regulations, 1930.
Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) (Strawberries) Regulations, 1930.
Food Standards.
It is very encouraging to those who are working for the purity and quality of food to
6ee the action which is being taken by Parliament to promote this end. Although in this
country we have not yet reached the level of the Dominions, there is reason to hope that this
matter is more and more engaging the attention of workers in Public Health, in this country,
and even more important still, that part of the general public whose thoughts turn towards
the improvement of the Public Health. The path is devious and may appear insignificant.
For several years now attempts have been made to establish a standard of purity of ice
cream—a chemical standard has been formulated—within a reasonable time we
may expect the formulation of a bacteriological standard. Is it too much to hope that this
may eventually lead to a bacteriological standard for ordinary milk.
For such reasons we must welcomo the efforts made in connection with vinegar in a Bill
introduced into the House of Commons in the Session 1928, the object of which was to
fix a standard of quality for vinegar. True vinegar is a brewed product prepared by the
alcoholic and subsequent acetous fermentation of barley or some other cereal, the starch of
which has been converted by malt. It is possible to produce more cheaply an imitation
prepared by diluting commercial acetic acid, staining and flavouring it to resemble the true
article. The Food and Drugs Adulteration Act is designed to ensure that a customer shall
get what he pays for, but for want of a standard of quality, the purchaser may be supplied
with spurious vinegar unless he demands malt vinegar. The Bill proposed to establish a
standard of quality and to enforce labelling of imitation vinegar. Enactments standardising
vinegar are in force in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United
States of America.
The desire of the public to consume a natural product or at any rate to know when
they were offered an artificial product found expression in the Artificial Cream Act of 1929.
Artificial Cream Act, 1929.
This Act which came into operation on the 1st June, 1929, has for its object the regulation
and sale of artificial cream. Under the Act it is an offence to sell, or expose for sale, artificial
cream under any designation which includes the word "cream" unlesa that word is preceded
by the word "artificial." Every vessel containing artificial cream, whether in transit or
exposed for sale, must bear the words "artificial cream" in large and legible type either on
the receptacle or on a label securely attached thereto. The Local Authority must keep a
register of all premises where artificial cream is manufactured, sold, or exposed for sale,
except premises where (a) the artificial cream is manufactured by any person solely for his
domestic purposes, (b) is used in the manufacture or preparation on the premises of some
other article of food, or (c) is not supplied otherwise than in the properly closed and
unopened receptacles in which it was delivered.
During the year no application was received for registration under the Act.