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20 tons 7 cwt. 16 lbs. of maize were received into the Borough for conversion
to cattle food. This was carried out under our supervision.
30 cases of sardines were detained at a Railway Depot in the Borough
and reshipped to Genoa.
32 tons 16 cwt. 1 qr. 23 lbs. of tea sweepings were removed from a warehouse
and released for chemical purposes.
I had reason to investigate a case of gastro intestinal disturbance in a
child which was alleged to be due to eating tomato puree from a tin purchased
in the Borough.
7 samples of the same brand of tomato puree, which was of foreign origin,
were examined and found to contain varying amounts of tin ranging from
2.3 to 5.2 grains per lb. and 0.15 to 0.25 grains of copper per lb. As this
amount of tin is considered to be potentially deleterious to health I allowed
the consignments to be surrendered. In all, 1,122 tins were surrendered from
two shops in the Borough and the importers withdrew this particular consignment
from the market.
In July it was discovered that many vendors in the Borough were in the
habit of adding sulphur dioxide as a preservative to minced meat, as much
as 3,760 parts per million being found in one sample. This is, of course, a
definite infringement of the Public Health (Preservatives, etc., in Food)
Regulations. Apart from this, it is a practice to be condemned in that it
tends to mask putrefaction and leads to a false sense of security. There were
16 prosecutions in a few weeks. All vendors of minced meat were circularised.
Preservative
in Minced
Meat.