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All of these were deficient in milk fat from 3 up to 73 per cent., in two cases
only the milk was also watered, from 9 to nearly 15 per cent. water having been added.
Butter.—387 samples of butter were analysed, 10 of these were adulterated,
equal to only 2'6 per cent. Over 83 per cent. of these samples contained boric acid,
varying from 10 grains per lb. up to the legal limit of 35 grains per lb., the average
amount being 22.5 grains per lb.
Sixty-three samples of butter (16.6 per cent.) contained no preservatives.
If it is not found necessary to add chemicals to some kinds of butter, the question
may be asked, what is the reason the dairy farmers and butter manufacturers add it
to any class of butter? Butter properly made from clean milk, and slightly salted,
keeps quite sufficiently well for most commercial purposes, and such small quantities
of boric acid as 10 to 12 grains per lb. can have little, if any, preserving properties.
Of the 10 samples of butter certified as adulterated, six were "test" or
informal samples. One half of the samples were margarine pure and simple, and
therefore substitutions of a cheaper for a dearer article. The remainder were mixtures
of over 40 per cent. of fats other than that of butter fat.
Cream.—Thirty-one samples of cream were analysed: all of these were
genuine, nine were free from preservatives, the remainder contained on an average
16 grains boric acid to the lb., the extremes being 5 and 30 grains to the lb.
The Public Health (Milk and Cream) Regulations, 1912, came partly into force
in the last quarter of the year, the chief working regulation being that it is an
offence now to sell preserved cream containing 35 per cent. or more by weight of
milk fat containing any other preservative than boric acid, borax or hydrogen
peroxide, and such cream has to be labelled as preserved cream with the name of
the preservative (boric acid or peroxide), the maximum quantity of boric acid added
has also to be stated on the label.
Three vendors of cream, since October, 1912, were found to have infringed the
regulations by selling cream containing over 50 per cent. of milk fat, preserved by small
quantities of boric acid.
Other Samples.—There is little to be said about samples other than dairy
samples. A number of jams were examined. In the previous year, 1911, a prosecution
was undertaken and conviction obtained with regard to apple pulp added to currant
and plum jams, but the 1912 samples were all free from apple pulp. A number
of drugs were analysed and found quite up to standard, and the remaining articles
call for no special comment.
The appended table gives a summary of the work done.
A. WYNTER BLYTH.
January 22nd, 1913. Public Analyst.