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"(A) In the case of food and drink :
(1) "If it contain any ingredient which may render such article
injurious to the health of the consumer.
(2) "If it contain any substance that sensibly increases its weight,
bulk or strength, or gives it a fictitious value, unless the amount
of each substance present be due to circumstances necessarily
appertaining to its collection or manufacture, or be necessary
for its preservation, or unless the presence thereof be acknowledged
at the time of sale.
(3) "If any important constituent has been wholly or in part
abstracted or omitted, unless acknowledgement of such abstraction
or omission be made at the time of sale.
(4) "If it be an imitation of, or sold under the name of, any other
article.
"(B) In the case of drugs :
(1) "If when retailed for medical purposes under a name recognised
by the British Pharmacopoeia it be not equal in strength and purity
to the standard laid down in approved works on materia medica,
or the professed standard under which it is sold."
"I think all will agree that the second definition is necessary to meet
the many different categories of unsatisfactory products which are now
regarded as adulterated. But even this definition is now inadequate, and
inclusion must now be made of another section under (A) for preparations
Which do not comply with standards prescribed by the Ministry of Food."
It is also desirable that comment should be made upon important
changes which have taken place in the marketing of our food supplies
which have reduced, substantially, the potentialities of adulteration.
In Greater London an ever-increasing proportion of the trade of distributing
food by retail is in the hands of the multiple shop proprietors who
distribute pre-packed products of uniform quality.
In a similar manner milk and ice-cream are processed in one or other
of a small number of large manufactories where they are pre-packed for
distribution by the many small retailers.
This stream-lining of supplies has during recent years made necessary
the issue of regulations prescribing standards for many of the foods now
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