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The Artificial Sweeteners in Food Regulations, 1969, and The Soft Drinks
(Amendment) Regulations, 1969, give legislative efEect to the total ban on the use of
cyclamates announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. These
Regulations come into force on 1st January, from which date saccharin and its
sodium and calcium salts become the only permitted artificial sweeteners. The labels
of soft drinks will be required to declare the presence of "saccharin" specifically,
but, in order to provide the necessary time for labels to be changed, the term
"permitted artificial sweetener" will be allowed until 31st December, 1970.
Representations were made by the Council to the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food regarding the lowering of standards in corned beef since the
introduction of the Canned Meat Product Regulations, 1967. It is contended that
the meat content specified is too low.
Composition and Labelling of Food and Drugs
Six hundred and ninety-one samples of food and drugs were submitted to the
Public Analyst and 180 samples of milk were examined in the Department's own
laboratory, representing a sampling rate of 3'2 per 1,000 population.
The Public Analyst reported adversely on 122 samples (17.7%). Seventy-five
were infringements of the Labelling of Food Order, 1953, which requires the majority
of pre-packed foods to bear a label giving information as to the name and address
of the packer, the name of the food and the ingredients of which it is composed.
Forty-two samples were unsatisfactory, inferior or adulterated, and in five cases
both labelling infringements and unsatisfactory conditions were found.
The ingredients of a packet "ready meal" included "chunks of beef". The
lumps of meat were found on examination to have been fragmented, reconstituted
with albumen, machine extruded and cut in "chunks" before dehydration to the
finished form.
The opinion is held that the use of the word "chunks" could imply that the
pieces of meat are in the natural state and the manufacturer was asked to amend
the description on the label, but at the end of the year this matter was still in dispute.
A sample of "Extra energy tablets" was found to rely on the presence of
caffeine to produce its effect.
Caffeine is a stimulant and does not provide extra energy. It may, actually,
produce an "extra fatigue" after-effect.
Considerable correspondence has ensued with the manufacturers on the
pharmacological properties of caffeine and at the end of the year this matter remained
unresolved.
Several samples of instant dried-milk powder were found to contain moisture
levels in excess of the 5% legal maximum. These were packed in this country from
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