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20
Adverse reports were made on two samples of milk. One sample contained 10 per cent. and the
other 8 per cent. of added water.
A sample of stuffed roast pork consisted of 33 per cent. roast pork and 67 per cent. of sausage stuffing.
These percentages are those of the sample submitted and may not have represented the proportion
as originally present in the sample as sold. A follow-up sample taken formally was found to be
satisfactory.
Three samples of pork sausages were found to be deficient in meat content. One contained only
60 per cent. of total meat, being 9 per cent. deficient, another contained 62 per cent. of total meat
and was 5 per cent. deficient, whilst the third sample contained 63 per cent. and was reported as
inferior.
Some sage and onion stuffing with shredded suet contained 4.3 per cent. of fat and the free fatty
acids on the fat, calculated as oleic acid, were 17 per cent. The free fatty acid content should not be
more than 2 per cent. The manufacturers of this product have requested the Research Laboratories
of the Food Manufacturers' Federation to investigate the best method of preparing mixtures of this
type for sale on the open market.
Two samples of bread and butter, two buttered rolls, and two scones and butter were all spread
with margarine, whilst a sample of buttered buns, and another of buttered rolls were spread with
mixtures of margarine and butter.
A sample of butter submitted because it was suspected of containing excess water, contained
16.3 per cent. of water which is 1.8 per cent. in excess of the permitted maximum of 16 per cent.
A complaint was received regarding the odour and taste of the icing of a cake. The icing contained
over 15,000,000 bacteria per gramme, showing that the egg albumen used in its manufacture must
have been of very inferior quality.
Some Honey Bake Biscuits contained only 5.6 per cent. of sugar as invert sugar. Honey biscuits
must contain in the finished product not less than 7 per cent. of invert sugar derived from honey.
Some confectionery sold as Coconut Macaroons was considered to be incorrectly named. No fault
was found with the composition of the sweets but they were really chocolate coconut sweets and showed
no resemblance to macaroons.
Two samples of children's travel sickness tablets were examined and reported as badly prepared.
They were reputed to contain 1£ grains of carbromal and 1 grain of potassium bromide. The first
sample contained 13 per cent. excess carbromal and the second 12 per cent. excess of potassium bromide.
Several samples submitted because of complaints by members of the public were examined, but
these complaints were not found to be justified. Some sterilised bottled cream was alleged to taste
of milk of magnesia, but it was genuine sterilised cream. If cream is to be sterilised it has to be
homogenised before being heated, but many people dislike the resulting consistency and flavour and
believe such cream to be contaminated with milk of magnesia. Some brown bread and butter thought
to be spread with margarine was spread with genuine butter. A beefsteak thought to be horseflesh,
consisted of genuine beef, and a foreign body found in soup, consisted of dried braised onion.
Food and Drugs Legislation during 1955.
There has been little actual increase in the amount of food and drug legislation during the year,
though much has been introduced, including the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, and the Hygiene Regulations,
1955. The Food and Drugs Act is a consolidating Act which comes into operation in 1956,
and it will not be discussed in this report, since the principal implications were mentioned in last
year's report. Similarly, the Hygiene Regulations only come into force in 1956 and it remains to be
seen how some of its articles are to be interpreted from the public analyst's standpoint. The Food
Standards (Butter and Margarine) Regulations, 1955, and the Labelling of Food (Amendment) Order,
1955, also come into force in 1956.
The Food Standards Committee issued a Supplementary Report on Colouring Matters in Foods.
This proposed the inclusion of titanium oxide and ultramarine, as permitted dyes, and also the
deletion of one "coal-tar" dye, Baking Brown AW, and the addition of Black PN to the List previously
proposed. The earlier Report proposed that the addition of added colours to foods should be declared
to the purchaser, but this Supplementary Report recognises that there are cases where this would be
inadvisable. It is suggested that the presence of added colour to fish should be declared, but that it
should not be declared in the case of bread, flour confectionery, butter, cheese, margarine, sugar
confectionery, ice cream, and other frozen products.