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" Some salad cream was examined and found to be rancid.
"Two samples of tinned herring roes contained aerobic and anaerobic bacteria though none of them
was pathogenic and the salt content would have been sufficient to prevent the development of pathogenic
bacteria. Some of the tins were badly corroded and it was suggested that they should only be sold
to a manufacturer, such as a fish paste manufacturer, who would open them under proper supervision.
"Two cans of luncheon meat were found to contain meat which was completely decomposed and
your analyst considered that the whole consignment should be condemned.
"Some sausages contained 2.4 per cent, of added salt which was considered excessive as the amount
of added salt should not be more than 0.5 per cent. Two samples of pork sausages were respectively
4.8 and 6 per cent, deficient in meat. Another sample of pork sausages contained a piece of fur with
adherent hide. When an action was brought in the magistrate's court the defence unexpectedly
produced witnesses to state that this was genuine bristle hide from a dermoid cyst of a pig, which
could not have been discovered in the abattoir or by the sausage manufacturer. The hairs were,
however, subsequently identified by an expert at Scotland Yard as being cattle hair.
"A sample of chutney was received with the complaint that it contained black specks. These
specks were merely the outer vegetable structure containing oil glands of spices. The sample was
genuine.
"Another member of the public complained that a sample labelled ' Potted Shrimps in Butter'
did not contain butter, but the fat was examined and found to consist of butter.
"Some tomatoes and a glove were submitted by a member of the public with the complaint that
the tomatoes were contaminated with acid and that tomato stain on the glove had removed the dye.
The tomatoes were found to be quite sound and showed no excessive signs of acidity, but it was
thought that the lady had eaten a tomato, which was beginning to turn, with her glove on and the
reducing substances in the juice of the tomato had discoloured the glove.
"Some boiled sweets were examined because a member of the public complained that they
contained black specks and that she had found a fly in one. The sweets contained specks which proved
to be purple dye used in manufacture and which had not been properly dissolved.
"After receiving a complaint that the bottled milk supplied by a dairy had been weak for several
days, a sample taken from the diary was examined but was found to be genuine.
"A piece of bread submitted was stated to have a peculiar taste and to have caused illness. The
bread had been made as aerated bread and the complainant was probably accustomed to yeast bread.
Your analyst and two members of his staff ate some of the bread and were unable to detect anything
wrong with the flavour nor did they suffer any untoward symptoms.
"Some tinned pork was submitted as the shopkeeper concerned suspected it of being bad. On
examination it was considered that the meat had probably been filled into the tin cold and without
a vacuum, with the result that in hot weather there was a slight interior pressure and the tin, in
consequence, became a ' flipper.'
"A sample of milk was submitted by a member of the public who suspected it was dried milk with
water and not fresh cows' milk, but examination showed it to be genuine milk.
"A sample of ice-cream suspected of containing a detergent was examined and found to contain
glyceryl monostearate which probably gave the impression of the presence of a detergent. Most
ice-cream now contains glyceryl monostearate and this requires sufficient flavouring to be added to
the mix if the rather unpleasant taste is to be adequately masked.
"During the year several items of legislation or recommendations of Committees of the Ministry
of Food were issued, which are of general interest to the public from the point of view of quality.
"No less than three separate Meat Products Orders were introduced. These orders were of particular
interest, in that they were issued primarily as enforcement orders and not as standards under the Food
and Drugs Act. For this reason local authorities and public analysts were not informed either in
advance or at the time of their issue by the Minister, but it is probable that it is the standards, rather
than the prices, which will eventually be resurrected from their ashes, even the last order having been
revoked in 1953. The first order, Statutory Instrument 1952, No. 507, removed the restriction on the
use of soya flour in sausages, but permitted the inclusion of not more than 6 per cent, of skim milk
powder in such products, the milk powder to count as 60 per cent, of its weight of meat. For the first
time minimum quantities were laid down for the meat content of many meat products. As a result of
this order the general methods for the analysis of these meat products were reviewed in detail by public
analysts and manufacturers.