View report page

21
SECTION E.—INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD
Food and Drug Analysis.
The Public Analyst (Mr. Thomas McLachlan, D.C.M., A.C.G.F.C., F.R.I.C., M.I.Biol.) has submitted
the following report on the year's work:—
"During the year, 317 samples of food and drugs were examined. Seven of these were taken
formally and 310 informally.
The number adulterated or about which some comment was made was 54 or 17 per cent. The
incidence of these criticisms may be classified as follows:—
Number of Number of
samples samples
examined adulterated,
etc.
Milk 21 —
Other Foods 288 54
Drugs 8 —
The year began with many weeks of extremely cold weather and there was much snow on the
ground, causing trouble in the feeding of cattle. This was reflected in the poor quality milk obtained
during the months of February, March and April.
Some goat's milk was quite a satisfactory product, but the name and address of the producer
was not given on the label. A container of yoghourt was incorrectly labelled as no ingredients
were disclosed, neither were the words " Registered Trade Mark " included after the name of the
product.
A whipped cream contained only 40.1 per cent. of fat and, since this was sold as thick cream,
according to the Food Standards Cream Order, 1951, it must contain not less than 48 per cent,
of milk fat.
A product sold as 'Top of the Milk' contained only 18 per cent. of milk fat and your analyst,
in agreement with most public analysts, maintains that this is canned cream and must, therefore,
contain not less than 23 per cent. of milk fat, as required by the Food Standards Cream Order,
1951. The Food and Drugs Act, 1955, describes cream as' that part of milk rich in fat which has
been separated by skimming or otherwise', but it is understood that the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food have sent a letter to the vendors stating that as the product is not described
as cream it is their view that it may legally be sold at a lower standard than is required for canned
cream. Your analyst's opinion is based not merely on his interpretation of the Food and Drugs
Act, but also on the object for which the product is sold. He has, moreover, sent two of his staff
to separate shops to purchase tins of cream and they have been supplied with ' Top of the Milk '.
In one case the assistant refused to take the product as it was not labelled cream and the floor
manager, on being called, informed her that this was the only type of cream they were then selling.
Another public analyst similarly sent one of his staff to a third shop and this assistant was again
treated in the same way. Your analyst is very perturbed about this matter, since several Local
Authorities were preparing to take legal action but were discouraged from doing so by the Ministry's
letter, although officially the Ministry discontinued its food advisory service many years ago. It
remains to be seen how this situation will develop.
A sample of butter contained 17.5 per cent. of water and a follow-up sample contained 18.7
per cent., whereas the maximum permitted quantity of water is 16 per cent. The manufacturers
stated they try to keep down the moisture content, but as they only deal with small amounts of
butter, a more efficient plant would not be justified.
A piece of glass submitted with an ice-cream was probably part of a wine glass and two other
samples of ice-cream submitted at the same time contained no glass. It is unlikely that a wine
glass would be present in an ice-cream factory and the glass had probably gained entrance in the
restaurant where the ice-cream had been served.
A piece of bread roll contained foreign matter, probably burnt wetted baking powder, due to
carelessness in the bakehouse concerned, and some biscuits contained foreign matter which
examination showed to consist of wool fibres derived from the felt travelling belt on which the
uncooked biscuits had passed to the oven. The manufacturers agreed with your analyst's opinion
and stated that they were putting in new felt to remedy the defect.
Some chocolate eclairs and a follow-up sample were stated to contain fresh cream but, in fact,
the filling consisted essentially of an artificial starch custard containing margarine fat. Some