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198
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Samples are frequently taken at their various hospitals in the
Borough, and occasionally the report of the Analyst is to the effect
that the milk supplied contained only 3 per cent. of milk fat,
this being the minimum percentage allowed by the Board of
Agriculture. It is impossible for the Local Authority to proceed
against the retailers in these cases, but the officials of such a body
being notified it is always open for them to take any action
against the vendors which they may deem necessary.
Of the five samples taken at private houses during the year at
the request of the occupiers, three were of butter, and two of milk,
and of the samples so taken the three of butter and one of the milk
were found to be adulterated.
It is significant to note that no less than 80 per cent. of the
samples taken at private houses were found on analysis to be
adulterated. This fully proves the reports which I am constantly
receiving as to the wary methods adopted by the fraudulent
trader. The methods adopted are as follows :—a genuine article
is delivered for weeks until the buyer is thoroughly established as
a customer, and the suspicion of such private resident being an
assistant of the Inspector is allayed, and then an adulterated
article is substituted. I am fully convinced that this practice is
adopted to a greater extent than is generally supposed, and it is
only by residents coming forward and reporting suspected cases
and being willing to support the officers of the Council in any
subsequent proceedings which may be instituted at the Police
Court that it is possible for them to suppress it.
The following Table gives the results of the analyses of the
samples taken at the various railway stations, Public Institutions,
and private houses, and the percentage of adulterations in each
case.