View report page

22
A milk slimming diet powder was incorrectly labelled according to both the Labelling of Food
Order and the Pharmacy and Medicines Act, 1941. It failed to disclose its ingredients properly and
claimed in advertisements that it contained no drugs, but it consisted chiefly of magnesium carbonate
and tartaric acid.
A sample of cider vinegar was otherwise satisfactory but the label of this product also claimed that
it would promote slimming. The manufacturers stated that they had amended the label and that
the new labels had been in use for two months.
Food Legislation and Official Reports.
The amount of new legislation and the number of official reports issued has again shown a decrease
during the year. The Public Analysts Regulations have been re-issued in order to provide a new
form of certificate to meet conditions resulting from the Food and Drugs Act, 1955. With the new
Act it may be necessary for a public analyst if he is unable to carry out the whole of the work required
to pass a sample to the public analyst for some other area for examination. This revised certificate
provides at the same time for those cases where adverse comment may be made on a label,
advertisement, or other matter, which may or may not be dependent on chemical analysis, but on
which the public analyst is the most competent authority.
The Colouring Matter in Food Regulations came into force in 1957 and revoked that part of the
Preservatives, etc., in Food Regulations relating to the addition of colours to foods. Although
the regulations came into force on the 30th June, 1957, they do not come into effective operation
in the current year as regards sale of food by retail. This was essential if a smooth flow from the
manufacturer of food colours to the retail sale of foods was to be obtained. The order therefore
stipulated that the manufacturer of food colours or compounds for colouring and flavouring must
comply with the order by the 30th September, 1957, whereas in general it may be stated that food
sold by retail must comply with the requirements of the order by the 30th June, 1958. For over
thirty years the Preservatives, etc., in Food Regulations have provided a short list of colours,
whose addition to food was forbidden. Many colours have been found to be suspect of causing cancer
and the new order permits the use of thirty organic chemical dyes together with a few more or less
natural ones, which have been used over many years. It is hardly necessary to state that this order
imposes much more work on the analyst for its efficient administration.
The Pre-Packed Foods (Weights and Measures: Marking) Regulations were made under Sections
6 and 123 of the Food and Drugs Act, and are administered by Weights and Measures Authorities
only and not by other Food Authorities. When there is a matter of the content of a particular food,
mixed with other ingredients, one would have thought it better to handle the matter via the food
inspector and the public analyst. Your analyst had submitted to him a tin marked to contain a
definite weight of smoked salmon, but in which more oil (undeclared) was present than salmon,
the declared weight being that of the total contents of the tin. While this matter can be handled
in other ways one would have thought that this order would have been the simplest one.
The Food Standards Committee issued a Report on a Standard for Ice-cream. Essentially this
report proposes to maintain the present standards for ice-cream with the prohibition of the use of
saccharin and other artificial sweeteners, except in the case of ice-cream made for diabetics, which
could be suitably labelled. The Committee recommend, however, that provision should be made
for 'dairy ice-cream,' of which the fat should be entirely milk fat, and 'milk ice' made on the basis
of the old fashioned hokey-pokey, which is essentially a custard-type ice with a milk fat content of
not less than 2.5 per cent.
The Food Standards Committee also issued a revised Report on Fluorine. The previous report was
issued in 1947 following the discovery of very large quantities of fluorine in phosphates used in
baking powders resulting from the emergency conditions caused by the war. These circumstances
have now disappeared and it is proposed to restrict drastically the quantities of fluorine permitted
in acidic phosphates used for foods, in baking powders, and in flour products containing such
phosphates.
There is, however, a considerable delay between the issue of Reports by the Foods Standards
Committee and ensuing legislation. Thus the following Reports have appeared:—
Report on Antioxidants. The revised report appeared in 1954, but no legislation has followed so
far. Now that the Colouring Matter in Food Order has removed colours from the orbit of the Public
Health (Preservatives, etc., in Food) Regulations, the time is ripe for a fresh order.
Second Report on Processed Cheese and Cheese Spread. This revised report appeared in 1956.
Legislation is also required to control the descriptions of skimmed, partially skimmed, and so-called
cream cheeses.
Report on Emulsifying and Stabilising Agents. This report appeared in 1956,