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to Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,
Majorca, Portugal, Switzerland, Tanzania and West Germany.
Before certificates are issued the foodstuffs destined for export are examined and
where necessary samples taken for analysis. Relevant investigation is also made into the
methods of production.
Imported Food
The public health inspector dealing with inspection of imported foodstuffs at wharves
in the borough reports that a sample of unfermented non-alcoholic grape juice taken from
a consignment at a wharf was found to contravene the Labelling of Food Order, the name
and address of the packer or labeller not being stated. A letter was sent to the producers,
who agreed to remedy the matter. Contraventions of this Order in respect of the requirement
to list the ingredients in decreasing proportion by weight and, in one case, of including
an ingredient found to be absent, were similarly brought to the attention of the manufacturers.
From time to time, samples taken on import are found not to comply with the
Order, which adds emphasis to the suggestion that the new Labelling of Food Order should
contain a provision requiring pre-packed foods to be correctly labelled before importation.
The proposed Order, however, only requires wholesalers to comply before distribution to
retailers.
Samples of frozen cooked and uncooked peeled prawns from Pakistan, China and Norway
were submitted for bacteriological examination. Counts varying from 50,000 organisms
per gram to more than a million colonies per gram were found, but none showed the presence
of pathogenic organisms of food poisoning strains. All the consignments were released
subject to being refrigerated and cooked before use, or used immediately after thawing
in the case of cooked prawns. A sample of Chinese frozen cooked peeled prawns was submitted
for examination before the consignment was to be imported. The viable count was found
to be more than 2 million per gram plus the presence of coli indistinguishable from faecal
coli in 0.001 gram. As a result the import was refused.
In May, 2,546 bags of Czechoslavakian sugar were detained at a wharf because some
of the bags had been contaminated with sodium antimonate, a highly toxic chemical which
had fallen from kegs on to the sugar on board ship. Sodium antimonate is a white powder
resembling granulated sugar, and it was impossible to distinguish between the contaminated
bags and the rest, as most had external white powdery patches after unloading. Samples
were taken from a number of bags thought to be contaminated, and also of the gunny (bag
material) and all were reported to contain sodium antimonate. In view of the high toxicity
of this chemical, the consignment was rejected for human consumption and was eventually
disposed of for industrial use under supervision. The weight of the sugar was approximately
250 tons.
In October, examination of a consignment of Australian canned minced beef loaf
57.