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spread adulteration of the commoner foods was rife to the present
time with its less frequent but more complex form of irregularity.
Some idea of the work involved in present day food and
drugs analysis may be gained from a quotation from the brochure
as follows:
"A sample may have to be examined from all the following
aspects:—
(1) For compliance with a legal standard when one is prescribed
or when no legal standard of composition exists to
establish that the article reaches a reasonable quality as
judged by normal commercial practice.
(2) To see that the article corresponds with the description
used and that none of the statements made on the label
or the advertisement are false or misleading.
(3) Where special claims are made for the presence of
vitamins and minerals, the proportions of these constituents
must be checked. Similarly any other special
claims for nutritive properties must also be justified.
(4) In the case of a pre-packed foodstuff it is necessary to
check that the article is labelled in accordance with the
requirements of the Labelling of Food Order and that the
declaration of ingredients is given in the correct order.
(5) To check for the presence of additives; particularly that
the article complies with the Regulations in respect of
preservatives, antioxidants, colouring matters, etc.
(6) Finally, checks for impurities such as traces of arsenic,
metallic contamination such as lead and in certain
instances fluorine may also be made.
The work now being done in this field confirms the view that
food sampling and analysis today not only prevents adulteration
but is a means of ensuring that the public obtains not only a
commodity it assumes to be getting, but a commodity it is entitled
to get from the description of the article sold.
During the year the Council were asked through the Urban
District Council's Association to assist the Food Standards Committee
of the Ministry in its consideration of the Composition of
Meat Pies and the necessity or otherwise for statutory control.
The Council were asked to arrange for a representative
number of meat pie samples to be collected over a period of six
months and twenty-two samples were obtained for this purpose.
Detailed information collated by the Public Analyst was submitted
to the Food Standards Committee in due course.
In the early part of the year the writer was invited, and with
the approval of the Council, was pleased to accept an invitation
from the Urban District Councils' Association to act as one of the
Association's representatives on a Local Authorities Joint Advisory
Committee on Food Standards.
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