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24
The Report on processed cheese and cheese spread recommends that processed Cheddar or Cheshire
cheese shall contain not more than 42 per cent. of moisture and that the butter-fat content of the dry
matter shall not be less than 48 per cent. In the case of other processed cheese it is recommended that
the moisture shall be not more than 45 per cent. and the butter-fat not less than 45 per cent. of the
dry matter. For cheese spreads it is recommended that the maximum moisture content shall be 60
per cent. and that the minimum butter-fat content of the product as sold shall be not less than 20 per
cent.
The Report on sausages recommends that pork sausages shall contain not less than 65 per cent. of
meat, whilst sausages made from beef, mutton, bacon, ham, lamb, veal, edible offals, poultry, game,
rabbit, hare, and venison shall contain not less than 50 per cent. of meat and that the quantity of fat
shall be not more than 50 per cent. of the total meat in any type of sausage. A majority of the
Committee recommended that with pork and beef sausages the pork or beef content of the meat
portion shall be not less than four-fifths of the total meat. A minority thought that the meat should
be solely that by which the sausage is named. Your analyst agrees with the minority view.
The Report on the addition of emulsifying and stabilising agents is comprehensive and recommends
that some twenty substances, which may or may not occur naturally in foods, are so commonly used
that they do not require legislation and further recommends that legislation be introduced to control
the use of super-glycerinated fats, synthetic lecithin, propylene glycol, or stearate, methyl cellulose,
methylethylcellulose, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, stearyl tartrate, the diacetyl tartaric acid
esters of super-glycerinated fats, monostearin sodium sulphoacetate, or sorbitan esters of fatty acids.
Other substances, such as brominated oils and silicones, it is recommended, should be banned.
Finally a revised Report was issued giving recommendations for limits of the copper contents in
foods. The general recommendations are that ready-to-drink beverages should contain not more
than 2 parts per million of copper, other beverages 10 parts per million, and that foods generally
should contain not more than 20 parts per million. There are, however, certain recommended exceptions,
which need not be mentioned in this report. It will suffice to mention that some authorities have been
pressing to introduce legislation to prohibit the use of any chemicals in food, whose presence cannot
be detected. Your analyst feels that the Council will offer him their sympathy should such legislation
be enacted.
In conclusion it may not be out of place to mention that, as the chairman of the Standards
Committee of the Association of Public Analysts, your analyst has had the opportunity to see much
behind the scenes and he looks forward to the not far distant future when most matters regarding
the composition, description, and advertising of foods will be arranged by friendly negotiation with
trade organisations and when the threat of legal action will be a thing of the past except for the few,
who think only of themselves.
Most manufacturers and caterers are honest and they realize that food administration protects
them from frivolous and even wrongful complaints because, after all, the real aim of society, whatever
be one's walk in life, is to serve the public interest."
Food and Drugs Act, 1955, and Food Hygiene Regulations, 1955.
This Act, which consolidates the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, and certain other food legislation, is
dealt with in the Public Analyst's report on page 22. It came into operation on the 1st January, 1956,
as did also the major part of the Food Hygiene Regulations, 1955. These Regulations have as their
principal object improvement in conditions under which food is stored and handled so as to minimise
the incidence and spread of food poisoning. They replace Section 13 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938,
and add new provisions in respect of the hygienic handling of food and the construction and
maintenance of food premises, including stalls, and vehicles used for the transport of food. With
regard to vehicles carrying meat, the Regulations replace numbers 19, 20 and 21 of the Public Health
(Meat) Regulations, 1924.
The new Regulations contain requirements for (1) the cleanliness of food premises, stalls, apparatus
and equipment, (2) the hygienic handling of food, (3) the personal habits and cleanliness of persons
engaged in the handling of food, the condition of their clothing, and the action to be taken while they
suffer from certain infections or are carriers thereof, (4) the construction, repair and maintenance of
food premises, the condition of stalls, vehicles, etc., and the facilities to be provided, and (5) the
temperature at which foods particularly liable to transmit disease are to be kept in food premises.
Especially noteworthy are the prohibition of the use of newspaper for wrapping open foodstuffs
and of the use of tobacco by persons handling open food or working in rooms where such food is
exposed. The provisions in the new Regulations against "risk of contamination" are also an advance
on former legislation which only dealt with "contamination" of foodstuffs.