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was hardly legible. Some camembert and brie cheeses contravened the Labelling of Food Order,
as they appeared to have been sold under a proprietary name which was not a registered trade mark.
Another camembert cheese contained only 41.5 per cent. of water and 18.2 per cent. of fat indicating
that it had been made from a partially defatted milk, and it bore no label on the carton as required
by the Labelling of Food Order. A cheese sold as 'Pemento Cheese' should have been described
either as ' pimento ' or ' sweet pepper cheese 'Pimento' is the official name for allspice and is
the fruit of Pimenta officinalis, which is quite different from the sweet peppers.
A cheese dressing contained 661 parts per million of benzoic acid and was, therefore, reported
as adulterated.
Some instant coffee contained only 2.67 per cent. of caffeine, whereas a dry coffee extract should
contain 4 per cent.
A Christmas pudding contained only 15.8 per cent. of fruit, instead of 30 per cent. at least. Most
Christmas puddings contain nearer 50 than 30 per cent. of fruit. The pudding was, moreover, a
stodgy heavy mass.
An assorted vegetable macaroni, stated to contain fresh egg was artificially coloured to create the
impression that vegetables were present, but any added vegetable and egg could only have been
present in small quantities. The declaration of ingredients was in the wrong order and, therefore,
contravened the Labelling of Food Order. Another sample called chocolate macaroni shells
contained only 3.21 per cent. of fat on the dry matter and should have been described as ' Chocolate
Flavoured They contained 6.83 per cent. of sugar sucrose, very little egg and mostly semolina,
and the order of declaration 'chocolate, sugar, fresh eggs, and semolina ' was completely contrary
to the labelling of food requirements.
The interior lacquer of a can of rhubarb had separated from the tin and iron plate causing considerable
corrosion and resulting in the presence of 309 parts per million of tin in the rhubarb. The
Ministry of Food limit is 250 parts per million of tin, but in your analyst's opinion any quantity of
tin over 125 parts per million makes a food objectionable for consumption.
Some prunes submitted for analysis were very old stock; some were split and appeared to be
bird pecked. On cooking they were satisfactory and would be considered suitable for a fairly cheap
product; they were, therefore, reported as inferior.
A sample of split broad beans contained beetles and other dirt, one of split peas contained grit,
stones, and four mouldy peas, and some split chick peas contained grit, stones, and snail shells.
All these samples came from the same packer. Some rice was reported as inferior because it also
contained small pieces of stone, leguminous seeds and one mite.
Food Legislation.
During the year the most important item of food legislation was the introduction of the Preservatives
in Food Regulations, 1962, together with its subsidiary The Milk and Dairies (Preservatives)
Regulations. The Preservatives Regulations follow the lines foreshadowed in the Report of which
a precis was given last year so that there is little object in repeating the information. The number
of preservatives permitted in foods has been increased to twelve, but in no case are more than three
defined preservatives permitted to be used for any specified food. A recommendation by the Food
Standards Committee that nisin should be permitted as a preservative for cheese has not been adopted
in spite of a common belief that it may now be used. The chief item of interest, which had not been
foreseen, was that no provision has been made for an expiry date for the sale of pickles and sauces
containing benzoic acid as a preservative, so that, theoretically, the sale of thousands of bottles and
jars of such products became illegal overnight and have remained so.
The Emulsifiers and Stabilisers in Food Regulations, 1962, together with the Milk and Dairies
(Emulsifiers and Stabilisers) Regulations, 1962, follow very nearly the lines suggested in the Report
of the Food Standards Committee in 1961. The main difference is that definitions have been
introduced in these regulations, which will fail to satisfy everyone. Thus an emulsifier is described
as a substance which is capable of aiding the formation of a uniform dispersion of two or more
immiscible substances and, in the opinion of your analyst, this is a natural definition which is long
overdue, but many authorities believe that an emulsion must be a suspension of one liquid in another.
Similarly, mixtures have been on the market for many years now called by the simple name glyceryl
monostearate. Henceforth these mixtures of indefinite composition become partial glycerol esters,
which in fact they are, although they often contain free stearic acid. On the other hand, the term
interesterification, not mentioned in the Draft Regulations, has now been employed to mean the