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Report of the Med1cal Off1cer of Health. 287
For the whole year the average composit1on proved to be—
milk fat 3.55 per cent.
Solids-not-fat 8.80 per cent.
Butter.
Extent of the
adulteration
reported
584 samples of Butter were submitted during the year, of
which 44 were taken with the necessary formalities,
whilst 540 were procured informally. The total
number reported as adulterated, or not up to standard, amounted
to 74, or 12.6 per cent. The greatest percentage adulteration
occurred in the case of the formal samples, where it amounted to
38.6 per cent., as against 10.5 per cent. for the informal samples.
The h1gh percentage in the case of the formal samples, as
explained last year, is again due to the fact that formal samples
were taken in most instances only when informal sampling showed
that systematic adulteration was being practised. The heavy
fall in the percentage of adulterated informal samples—10.5 per cent.,
as compared with last year's result of 237 per cent.—appears to
show that adulteration of butter in the Borough is far less prevalent
than was the case in 1912, and that regular inspect1on, by the aid,
in the first instance, of informal sampling, has acted as a strong
deterrent to the dishonest practice of the fraudulent trader.
Nature of the
adulteration
reported.
The nature of the adulteration reported showed that in 40
instances margarine was wholly substituted for
butter; in 16 instances mixtures of butter and
margarine, in varying amounts, were sold; in 14 instances the butter
sold contained an excess of boron preservative; and in four instances
an excess of water.
Full deta1ls of these cases are given in Table D.
The presence
of preservatives
All samples were examined for the presence of preservatives,
with the result that a boron preservative was found
in 453 (or 77.5 Per cent.) of the samples submitted.
with the exception of the 14 cases mentioned above, th is was present
in quantities not exceeding 0.5 per cent. (equivalent to 35 grains
per lb.) expressed in terms of Crystall ised Boric Acid, the actual
amounts and the times of their occurrence being given in Table E.