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139
"' shall mean the substance usually known as butter . . . with or without
"* salt or other preservative, and with or without the addition of colouring
" matter.'
"In further support of this view, I would refer you to Section 1 of the 1899
"Act, last paragraph:—
"' Provided that an article of food shall not be deemed to be adulterated
"' by reason only of the addition of any preservative or colouring matter of
"' such nature and in such quantity as not to render the article injurious
"' to health.'
"As the whole section is headed ' Precautions against importation of agricultural
''and other produce insufficiently marked,' it might be contended that it was
"only to agricultural produce from abroad that the above proviso applied.
"There is, however, nothing in the wording to show that this is so, and, more.
"over, it is difficult to imagine that the legislature contemplated that the foreigner
"should be expressly allowed to add preservatives to milk and other ^articles, the
"presence of which after importation should be an offence under the Sale of Food
"and Drugs Acts.
"I would now like to draw attention to Section 4 of the 1899 Act, which gives
"absolute power to the Board of Agriculture to prohibit or limit the amount of
"any preservative or other addition to milk, cream, butter or cheese.
"'The Board of Agriculture may . . . make regulations for determining
. . . . what addition of extraneous matter . . . shall for the purposes of
"' the Sale of Food and Drugs Act raise a presumption until the contrary
"'is proved, that the milk ... is injurious to health, and an Analyst shall
"' have regard to such regulations in certifying the result of an analysis under
"' those Acts.'
" I am not aware that the Board of Agriculture has exercised these powers.
"There is no need for fresh legislation, the Acts are clear that the addition of
"any ingredient which would render an article injurious to health is an offence,
"and power is given to the Board of Agriculture to state what ingredients, and
"in what quantity, when added to milk would render it injurious.
"All that is wanted is that the Board of Agriculture should make its
"pronouncement."
The Sanitary Committee concurred in the suggestions made by Dr. Teed
and myself, and directed that in reply to their letter the Local Government
Board should be informed that the Corporation was of opinion that the time
had arrived when the recommendations made in January, 1901, by the
Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture in July, 1899,
to enquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation
and colouring of food—so far as they relate to milk, cream, butter and
cheese—should be adopted by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries as
regulations under sec. 4 (1) of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, and
that legislation as to the use or restriction of preservatives and colouring
matter in other articles of food should be promoted at the earliest opportunity.