View report page

137
As the innovation became known, a demand sprang up in the home markets,
and a large number of fishermen are now engaged in this practice. Apart
from the fact that the dye is admittedly used to make it look better than it
really is, there seems to be nothing objectionable in the mode of preparation,
which I am informed is carried on under satisfactory conditions, and the
goods, moreover, do not appear to be sold under any false or misleading
description, but while it is not possible to say whether aniline dye employed
in such small quantities is or is not poisonous, there are grave objections to
its use as a colouring agent for foods while other absolutely innocuous
materials are at the disposal of the manufacturers; it seems only right that if
the use of the dye is to be continued, the fact should be disclosed to the purchaser
at the time of purchase.
The publication in March last of the results of the analysis referred to
above raised considerable controversy in the Trade, and definite assurances and
guarantees were not lacking that nothing but Annatto was used for colouring
purposes, one firm asserting that they were prepared to prove this, if necessary,
in a Court of Law, and indeed, samples submitted by them to their own
Analyst were found to contain only Annatto.
UNSOUND CRABS.
At the instigation of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, the presiding
Magistrate at the North London Police Court on the 2nd May last,
formally condemned and ordered to be destroyed four kits of crabs, 150 in all,
that had been submitted to Dr. Harris for his examination. It was stated
that they were bought that day by an Islington trader from a salesman in
Billingsgate Market, who returned the purchase money when he learnt that
they had been condemned. As is usual in these cases, no positive evidence was
procurable that the crabs condemned were part of the same consignment as
those sold at Billingsgate Market on the 2nd May to the Islington fishmonger
referred to.
On the day of the purchase consignments of crabs reached Billingsgate
Market from Crail, in Fifeshire, having been in transit two days. No other
complaints were received as to their condition, and it is quite possible that,
although alive when put on rail, some may have died en route to the City.
Crabs are fish that deteriorate quickly after death, decomposition setting in
almost immediately, and one dead member of a crate or kit may affect the
whole parcel. The same applies to the boiling of dead or unsound crabs.
It is the invariable rule of the Trade to select only sweet or live crabs for the
boiling pots, all "turned" or stinking crabs being destroyed. It would,