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An opened can and an unopened one of corned mutton were received which, though sterilised during
canning, had begun to decompose before being canned and were therefore unacceptable to human
beings. A sample of pork brawn was received with the complaint that a high percentage of the cans
was blown and customers objected to the strong smell on opening, but there had been no complaints
of illness. This can was found to contain clotted blood, bristles and other dirt from the slaughterhouse
floor; it had been prepared under insanitary conditions and had been improperly sterilised. A
sample of canned Danish preserved sausage was fermenting and possessed a sour odour and taste.
When cut open the sausages showed patches of pale yellowish-brown material indicating bacterial
reduction of the pink-coloured nitrosohaemoglobin. The hydrogen ion concentration was about 4.0
indicating the formation of acid. A sample of lemon-flavour culinary essence was found to consist
of flavoured dilute soap solution, with a taste of soap rather than lemon, and had probably been
flavoured with citronellol. A sample of vitamin tablets contravened the Labelling of Food Order.
They were claimed to contain vitamin B2 equal to 2.5 grammes of fresh brewer's yeast or about onesixteenth
only of vitamin B2 requirements for the day. A sample of teething jelly was received and,
in the opinion of your analyst, this is a food. All ingredients other than water must therefore be
declared in the order of the percentages in which they are present. Only 32.42per cent. of the
ingredients were disclosed and, as these were described as the "formula," the " formula " requires
all ingredients disclosed to add up to 100 per cent. Several samples of drugs failed to comply with the
labelling requirements of the Pharmacy and Medicines Act. Some bile beans were incorrectly labelled,
the descriptions "extract of jalap," "extract of leptranda," and "sapo cast" requiring amendment.
Your analyst suggested that this case should be passed to the Pharmaceutical Society with the request
that they attend to the label. Cough pastilles and cough tablets are medicines within the meaning
of the Pharmacy and Medicines Act and the medicinal ingredients must be disclosed. A cough
mixture was stated to contain "acetum fusc" which is not a term used in the British Pharmacopoeia
or the British Pharmaceutical Codex, and the drug must be disclosed in full. A sample of compound
aspirin tablets contained an excessive amount of acetic and salicylic acids and should not have been
sold in that condition. A sample stated to be fruit laxative tablets owed their laxative properties to
the phenolphthalein contained in them and should, therefore, not have been described as fruit laxative
tablets. A sample described as Friar's balsam tablets contained too small an amount of Friar's
balsam to warrant the description."
Legal proceedings were not advised in respect of any of the samples adversely reported upon by the
Public Analyst, and the matters were taken up, with satisfactory results, with the manufacturers,
wholesalers or retailers concerned.
Milk.—There are 159 premises from which milk is sold. Inspections made numbered 246.
During the year 53 applications under the Milk (Special Designations) Regulations, 1936-1946,
were received from 23 milk purveyors and licences were granted as follows: 1 pasteurising, 26 dealers'
and 3 supplementary in the case of pasteurised milk; 1 bottling, 19 dealers' and 3 supplementary
in respect of tuberculin tested milk.
The average composition of the 71 genuine samples of milk analysed was: total solids, 12.19 per
cent.; fat, 3.45 per cent.; solids not fat, 8.74 per cent., as compared with the legal minima, namely,
11.50 per cent., 3.00 per cent. and 8.50 per cent. respectively.
Twenty-four samples of milk taken at the premises of two authorised wholesale firms operating heat
treatment plants were submitted to the tests prescribed for the various designations. All were reported
to be satisfactory. Of 62 other samples of milk examined by the Council's Bacteriologist, all but one,
which was stated to be a border-line case, were found to comply with the requisite standards.
On the 1st October, 1949, a number of legislative measures affecting milk and dairies came into
operation. By virtue of the Food and Drugs (Milk and Dairies) Act, 1944 (Appointed Day) Order,
1949, this Act was brought into force on that date, together with three sets of Regulations: (1) the
Milk and Dairies Regulations, 1949, re-enacting, with amendments, the Milk and Dairies Regulations,
1926-1943, and containing a number of minor changes relating to buildings, the cleansing of vessels
and utensils, the distribution of milk and its protection against contamination and infection, the use
of mechanical refrigeration for cooling, and the use of approved chemical agents for the cleansing of
appliances; (2) the Milk (Special Designation) (Pasteurised and Sterilised Milk) Regulations, 1949,
re-enacting, with amendments, the Milk (Special Designations) Regulations, 1936-1948, so far as they
relate to pasteurised milk, establishing a new special designation, namely, "sterilised milk," prescribing
the procedure to be followed in the pasteurisation and sterilisation of milk, and providing for the use
of the special designations "tuberculin tested milk (pasteurised)" and "tuberculin tested milk
(sterilised)" ; (3) the Milk (Special Designation) (Raw Milk) Regulations, 1949, re-enacting, with
amendments, the Milk (Special Designations) Regulations, 1936-1948, so far as they relate to raw
milk, and providing that after the 1st October, 1954, the designation "accredited" shall no longer be