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48
The practice of adding large quantities of water to milk seems to
have almost entirely died out. The adulteration of milk is for the
most part limited to the addition of small quantities of water, so as to
reduce good milk to the level of that yielded by poor cows, and to the
abstraction of cream.
Of the 2,314 samples of milk condemned legal proceedings were
taken against the vendors in respect of only 1,438 samples, and
penalties were imposed in 1,171 cases.
The rate of butter adulterations in London is found to be 12.9 per
cent., in the 32 Great Towns 13.6 per cent., and in the remainder of
the country, only 4.7 per cent.
In more than one of the analysts' reports attention is drawn to
the growing practice of selling as genuine dairy butter, margarine
made up to exactly resemble fresh butter. To avoid detection, the
retailer agrees not to sell the article to anyone but a known customer,
with the result that strangers—and therefore Inspectors—are supplied
with genuine butter, while purchasers who are known to the seller
receive margarine, for which the price of butter is charged.
Many samples of golden syrup were reported against. It appears
to be a common practice to add to golden syrup a small proportion
of glucose for the purpose of preserving the syrup in a clear
uncrystallized state, but many of the samples analysed were found to
contain glucose syrup to the extent of 50, 60, or even 70 per cent.
38 per cent. of the samples submitted by private purchasers were
condemned. This high percentage is accounted for by the circumstance
that private purchasers do not submit samples without good
reason for believing that they are adulterated, whereas the officers of
Local Authorities have, to a large extent, to purchase samples at
random.