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36
APPENDIX
Report of the Public Analyst (J. H. E. Marshall, M.A. F.R.I.C.)
for the year ended 31st December, 1962.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
During the year under review the number of samples submitted
for examination was 500. Of these 486 were obtained under the
provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955 and 14 were complaint
samples. In all 16 samples were irregular and were the subject of
special reports. Most of the food and drugs samples examined were
quite satisfactory and again it may be concluded that the wide
variety of articles available to the general public and sampled by
your Inspectors were of good quality. However, there are many
articles of food which do need constant supervision by your Analyst
and these include open meat products such as sausages and faggots;
milk; spirits; and popular remedies with which people even in these
days are still prone to dose themselves, such as sal volatile.
All the 121 milk samples examined were quite satisfactory.
The vast bulk of milk available in the Borough is produced by
large firms who exercise stringent control over their products and
the composition of the milk is thereby guaranteed. However,
the checking of random samples by an independent analyst is fully
justified. Of all the bottles of milk distributed in the Borough,
every one which is not satisfactory is going to be the subject of a
complaint by the customer. During the year four such bottles of
milk were examined because of the presence of foreign matter, which
was cement in two cases, a pad of fungus, and lastly the 'dirt'
jeft behind by a firework having been exploded in the bottle.
Complaints of the quality of bread because of the presence
of foreign matter were also numerous, for the bread had yielded the
following items;—a length of string, a piece of blue paper, an insect
body and a lump of yeast.
The remaining complaint samples consisted of cooked rice and
a dinner alleged to have contained glass, a sample of chive dressing
which was alleged to be unsatisfactory, samples of an eclair and a
doughnut where the cream was alleged to be rancid and a bun which
was alleged to have been eaten by mice. In this last instance the
bun was of a very sticky kind and stuck to anything with which it
came into contact. This left it with an uneven surface which at first
view suggested that it had been eaten by mice, but examination
showed that this was not the case.
Five of the samples obtained under the Food and Drugs Act
were not satisfactory. Four contravened the requirements of
the Labelling of Food Order and the other contained a dead beetle.
The potency of some vitamin capsules was not declared, a sample of
instant coffee did not declare the ingredients, a sample of canned
peas was not properly labelled and a sample of canned mixed
vegetables was not properly labelled. The ingredients in a can of