View report page

108
The Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into this question,
expressed the view, with which, by the way, I cordially disagree, that the
addition of mixtures of borax and boric acid should be permitted in cream,
provided it does not exceed 0.25 per cent. expressed as boric acid, and its
presence is notified on the vessel, and double that amount in butter or
margarine without any notification at all; and this expression I believe to
be responsible for the general belief current among traders that the presence
of these two drugs in any foodstuffs has received the approval of the
authorities. One instance of this I have already referred to in Sample No. 515.
Apart from the morality of making such pretentious claims as those put
forth by the advertisers as to the merits of the articles referred to, which it
is hardly within my province to criticise, the results of this inquiry
demonstrate that with two exceptions, the use of the preparations referred to,
although undesirable, is hardly likely to be fraught with actual or immediate
danger to health.
The exceptions are samples Nos. 513 and 514, both of which contain
benzoates, and with regard to which the makers issue a most misleading
circular. I am of opinion that articles with so misleading a description come
within the penal provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, as it clearly
is to the prejudice of the purchaser of any drug or mixtures of drugs if he is
misled as to its nature.
Upon my recommendation, these two cases were referred to the City
Solicitor to take such action as he deemed necessary.
The unrestricted use of preservatives in foods constitutes, in my opinion,
a very serious danger to the health of the community. That the practice is
growing, there can be no doubt; and to its maleficent influence, it has been
stated, can be traced the growth of Appendicitis. Whatever truth there may
be in this, it is significant to note that the development of one has been
parallel with that of the other.
It does not seem conceivable, taking the wide range of foodstuffs to which
the articles referred to in this inquiry can be added, that a man for his
breakfast might ingest salicylic acid, for his dinner benzoates, and for his
tea boracic acid; and at the end of such a day would, in all probability,
have taken a large medicinal dose of an irritating drug.
The chemical most in demand for this purpose is boracic acid, doubtless
on account of its cheapness and its lack of smell and taste.
The ill effects of this drug when given medicinally are:— Indigestion,
inflammation of the kidneys, loss of appetite, and various skin diseases;
and I am of opinion that many cases of ill-health, for which no obvious