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The label of a health food did not disclose the ingredients in order of magnitude. The label
showed ' Honey' in larger letters than the other constituents, whereas it appeared to be present
only as the third constituent in order of quantity.
A product labelled sour salt appeared to consist of pure citric acid. In accordance with the
Labelling of Food Order a product must be labelled with its common or usual name. Other labels
to which objection was taken included a vegetable oil which was labelled entirely in French ;
a ' waffle Nadziewane ' which consisted of thin slices of cheese, but bore only a foreign label; and
a processed cheese with ham which was labelled only in German. In accordance with the Labelling
of Food Regulations ingredients must be disclosed.
Food Legislation.
The year brought little change in food legislation, although proposals were made for such changes.
The Lead in Food Regulations, 1961, brought into force the proposals made by the Food Standards
Committee in 1959. The maximum quantity of lead permitted in a ready-to-drink non-alcoholic
beverage is 0.2 parts per million and for other foods 2.0 parts per million with the exception of
certain foods. These are divided into two classes, those for which a larger amount of lead will be
permitted for a limited time only and those which contain larger quantities of lead naturally and
can never be kept at the low limit proposed for ordinary foods. Such foods include apples, pears,
concentrated fruit juices and tomato puree or paste, fish and canned fish, raw sugars, including
liquid or solid glucose, cocoa powder, tea, yeast and yeast products, dried onions, herbs, ground
spices, flavourings, and pectin. The quantity permitted in these foods is based on the amounts
likely to be present from natural causes.
The Labelling of Food (Amendment) Regulations, 1961, exempts wines prepared from preserved
or concentrated grape juice from declaring the fruit juice from which they have been prepared, even
though they have not been obtained from the fermentation of the freshly expressed juice. The
Ministers of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and of Health, the Home Secretary and the Secretary
of State for Scotland have asked the Food Standards Committee to undertake a review of the
existing labelling of food provisions of the Labelling of Food Order and other food regulations
relating to labelling and the Food Standards Committee have asked for the views of any interested
parties.
The Food Standards Committee issued a supplementary Report on Preservatives in Food together
with Proposals for new Regulations. The problem of preservatives, food additives, and similar
substances is becoming so complex that one cannot but sympathise with any committee advising a
government at the present time. In the opinion of your analyst, moreover, the time has now
arrived when no country of importance can afford to make laws governing such additions without
considering carefully the existing and possible legislation of other countries of similar development.
Your analyst will be the opening speaker next September at an International Symposium called to
explore the matter of food regulations. In the meantime one can only consider legislation as it
affects this country and agree that the Committee have made a brave attempt to cope with the
position as it is. It is unfortunate that many substances, such as salt, glycerin, propylene glycol,
acetic acid, and others, should not be defined as preservatives when they are the most efficient and
commonest preservatives in use. When advising the Government on legislation the Committee have
also to consider the possibility of its implementation and one can only state that many experts are
in grave doubt about the implementation of food legislation now and in the future. It is suggested
that sulphur dioxide and benzoic acid shall continue as permitted preservatives for certain foods and
it is interesting to note that it is suggested that sulphur dioxide shall be recognised as a preservative
in unfermented grape juice to be used for sacramental purposes, provided that not more than 70 parts
per million are employed, while ordinary fruit juices to be used for other purposes may contain up
to 350 parts per million. As an alternative 2,000 parts per million of benzoic acid, or methyl- or
propyl-p. hydroxybenzoate may be employed. The existing regulations have caused immense
difficulties owing to an uncertainty, which was never intended. Methyl- or propyl-p. hydroxybenzoate
will be permitted also in liquid coffee or tea extracts, drinking chocolate concentrate, pickles
and sauces, tomato pulp, or liquid rennet. Here it is noted that liquid tea extract is given official
notice for the first time in proposed British legislation and that permission will be given to use a
preservative in a drinking chocolate concentrate, but there is no mention of chocolate syrups used
on a very large scale for pouring over ice creams, puddings, etc. By definition these last are not
flavouring syrups because they are not to be diluted with milk or water to make a drink with a distinctive
flavour nor can they be described as flavouring emulsions. It is proposed that bread shall
be permitted to contain up to 3,000 parts per million, i.e. 0.3 per cent, of propionic acid and that flour
confectionery shall be permitted 1,000 parts per million of either propionic acid or sorbic acid.