View report page

20
A gateau submitted as a complaint contained a grain beetle and a pupa of a dermestes species.
Grain beetles are found in cereals and cereal products of many kinds and the dermestes species is
common in bone factories, skin warehouses, and dog biscuit factories. It was difficult to understand
how the dermestes pupa came to be present in a cake bought at the shop from which it was obtained
and it was remarkable that there was one specimen only of each of two very dissimilar types of insect.
A bread roll contained dirt which was believed to result from a piece of burnt bread. A sliced white
loaf, stated to have caused diarrhoea and vomiting, contained several small pieces of material consisting
of brown bread due to brown dough having been mixed in through carelessness. Your analyst ate a
slice without any ill effects. Another loaf was examined because of a complaint that it possessed an
odour of disinfectant. The bottom half of the loaf was contaminated with a phenolic odour due probably
to the loaf having been placed on a shelf on which there had previously been disinfectant. Under
the Food Hygiene Regulations, 1955, contamination includes contamination by odour, so that this
bread was " adulterated " under the new Food and Drugs Act.
A complaint was received that some rabbit purchased by a member of the public was not rabbit.
On examination it proved to be hare, and illustrates one result of the scarcity of rabbits due to
myxomatosis.
A sample submitted as " sliced roast pork " contained 1 oz. 5 drams of pork meat, 8 drams of crackling
and 15£ drams of sausage stuffing. If this sample was representative of the sliced meat as sold it will
be realized that the quantity of pork meat was only 45 per cent.
Four samples of pork luncheon meat were deficient in meat content. They contained 80 per cent.,
78 per cent., 75 per cent., and 53 per cent. of total meat respectively and were therefore 11 per cent.,
13 per cent., 16 per cent., and 40 per cent. deficient in meat content. Pork luncheon meat must not
contain less than 90 per cent. of pork.
In conjunction with other public analysts throughout the country, your analyst carried out an
investigation into the quantity of meat present in sausage rolls and St. Marylebone kindly supplied
five samples. These were found to contain 25.2, 18.9, 18.4, 17.0 and 13.5 per cent. of meat respectively,
the last sample being reported as adulterated. The percentage and weight of meat in sausage rolls
appears to bear no relationship to the price paid. The sample with the largest percentage of meat was
not the largest sausage roll, but it contained 12.8 grammes of meat and cost 4£d. Rolls which cost
only 4d. each weighed on average 80 grammes and contained 13.6 grammes of meat, whereas the
sample reported as adulterated cost 5d. and contained only 8.1 grammes of meat. Altogether your
analyst examined 46 samples of sausage rolls and the quantity of meat contained in them varied from
3.9 to 18.7 grammes, indicating that some rolls contain about five times as much meat as others
whilst the price paid ranged from 3d. to 5d. each. The total meat content in rolls ranged from 10.0 to
38.5 per cent. The nutritional value of a food such as a sausage roll does not depend solely on one
factor alone. Flavour, appearance, and the quality of the pastry play some part, but this small piece
of work indicates to some extent the profit made by some manufacturers compared with others, even
allowing for differences in cost of rent, rates, and other overheads.
A product labelled " Steakettes " consisted of minced beef which was satisfactory as regards
bacterial purity, but the minced meat was pressed to form small round slabs and the label did not state
that minced beef had been used. The description " Steakettes " indicated that the purchaser could
expect a small steak, whereas minced beef is generally cheaper than steak because it is prepared from
inferior cuts. The manufacturers agreed to amend the label accordingly.
Some tenderised beef flake steak possessed a badly tainted flavour due to decomposition. The
manufacturers stated they did not use a chemical tenderiser but kept the meat for some time before
freezing as this caused the meat to become more tender. It also allowed bacteria to develop and ruin
the meat.
The label on a product stated to be a bio-chemically balanced salt contravened the Labelling of
Food Order, inasmuch as there was no statement regarding the ingredients present, and the salt was
not a bio-chemically balanced salt.
An egg submitted as "new laid" was found to have been preserved. It was coated with a film of
oil and showed a pale yellow fluorescence under ultra-violet light. Whereas the shell of a normal
unpreserved egg is alkaline, the shell of this egg was very slightly acid.
A sample of blended chocolate hazelnut wafer did not contain more than 2 per cent. of hazelnut
and this was considered to be insufficient hazelnut to warrant the description. Another hazelnut wafer
contained only a small quantity of hazelnut, the bulk of which consisted of hazelnut skin and not of
the nut itself.