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(c) The presumptive minimum standards should in five or ten years' time become minimum
legal standards for sale to the consumer ;
(d) The Hortvet Freezing test should be made legal subject to certain provisos ;
(e) Differential payment schemes should be introduced according to the quality of the milk ;
(f) Better provision should be made for the testing both of bulk and of individual cow milks.
The Food Standards Committee Report on Bread and Flour occupies 19 pages and includes 24
general recommendations regarding flour and 10 regarding bread, but it also contains 51 pages of
Appendices. The main provisions are that all flour required to be fortified at present should continue
to be fortified for the present and that no change should be made in the quantities prescribed,
that all sampling should be made at mills or docks, and that only certain bleaching and improving
agents should be permitted. It is recommended that there should be a statutory list of ingredients
permitted to be used in bread, that descriptions of ' protein,' ' milk ' and ' Slimming ' breads should
be controlled, and that exaggerated claims for enrichment or energy-producing qualities of bread
should be prohibited.
Thomas McLachlan,
Public Analyst."
Food—Adulterated or Unsatisfactory Samples.
Twenty-seven of the seventy-two unsatisfactory samples referred to in the Analyst's report concerned
technical faults in labelling or description and, after consultation with the manufacturers, at the end
of the year only one case was outstanding where the label had not been revised or corrected. The
other samples reported upon adversely consisted of minor contraventions and these were dealt with
informally.
Unsound Food.
Approximately twelve tons of food were voluntarily surrendered for destruction and certified as
being unsound and unfit for human consumption. Details are given in Table 24, page 39. This is
3 tons more than was surrendered last year and the increase is accounted for by the fact that a sausage
manufacturing firm have temporarily taken wholesale and storage premises in the Borough. No
other large consignments calling for special action were involved and when destruction on the premises
was impracticable, or the unsound food was unfit for animal feeding, it was sent in bulk to a central
refuse depot at Westminster.
Milk.
There are 89 registered premises from which milk is sold and 14 milk roundsmen operate in the
Borough from shops or depots elsewhere.
The Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1960, came into operation during the year and
consolidate and amend the previous regulations relating to raw milk and pasteurised and sterilized
milk. So far as the department is concerned, the principal changes are that instead of separate licences
a dealer's (pre-packed milk) licence is introduced to permit the sale of all three kinds of designated
milk; the period for which licences are granted is extended from one year to five years ; dealer's
licences will permit sales outside as well as inside the licensing authority's area and supplementary
licences will no longer be necessary for this purpose. With regard to milk sampling, a licensee is no
longer required to allow samples of milk to be taken free of charge, conditions of the methylene blue
test are modified, and a different phosphatase test is prescribed for pasteurised milk. During the year,
298 applications for licences were received and details are given in Table 21, page 38.
The average percentage composition of the 44 genuine samples of milk analysed was : total solids
12.2, fat 3.09, solids not fat 8.73, the legal minima being, 11.50, 3.00, and 8.50 respectively.
Fourteen samples of milk taken at the premises of two wholesale firms operating heat treatment
plants were submitted to the tests prescribed for the various designations and all were reported to
be satisfactory. The Council's Bacteriologist examined 50 other samples of milk and all were found
to comply with the requisite standards.
Ice-Cream.
Three premises are registered for the manufacture of ice-cream and 193 for sale and storage. Details
of the classes of premises are given in Table 22, page 38. Twelve samples of ice-cream were examined
by the Council's Bacteriologist, with the following results: Grade I—9; Grade II—3; twelve
samples submitted for chemical analysis were also reported to be satisfactory.