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With regard to the samples noted on that list as being unsatisfactory, I add
the following comments:-
Cakes and Biscuits. The one sample pronounced unsatisfactory under this heading
was a "Seedless Pig Bar Biscuit" which upon examination was found to contain crushed
seeds. Representations were made to the makers for either the omission of the seeds
or the renaming of the product; the latter course was adopted.
Cheeses. All six samples referred to as unsatisfactory were samples of soft
cheeses claimed to be "Cream Cheeses". There is no statutory standard for cheese,
and the power of deciding a standard and of maintaining the quality of the article
is in the hands of the Courts. A court can decide upon the evidence before it what
is a reasonable standard, and in Middlesex the Pood and Drugs Authority submits that
a fat percentage of 50% on the whole cheese is a reasonable standard. Pour of the
samples referred to were Continental pre-packed cheeses. On the Continent the fat
content of a cheese is stated as a percentage of the dry solids (i.e. excluding the
water content of the cheese), and the conversion of this figure to a percentage of
the whole cheese has shown a fat content much lower than is considered desirable for
a cream cheese. In each case the importers were approached and the matter concluded
satisfactorily. The other two cases were in respect of sales of a non pre-packed
whole milk cheese mistakenly described by the vendors as "Cream Cheese". One
official caution was issued.
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