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36
between them and the Ministry of Food on the same subject.
In these circumstances no formal sample was taken and a
warning letter was sent.
The pork sausage meat was an informal sample, that
is, a sample not taken in the manner prescribed by the Act
and, therefore, no legal proceedings could be instituted
against the vendor in respect of that sale. A formal
sample was taken at a subsequent date and proved to be
genuine. The second sample was taken early in 1946 and is
not shown in the tabulated statement.
The sample of table jellies was purchased when the
manufacture of these delectable sweets was prohibited by
the Ministry of Food, mainly on account of the sugar content
of normal table jellies. In the absence of any ruling on
the matter by the Ministry of Food, the Analyst had to
report that the samples" were genuine, even although they
contained no sugar and only barely sufficient gelatine to
enable the finished product to 'set'. The sale of the
jellies provided a very lucrative occupation for the
vendors. The Corporation was unable to institute legal
proceedings, but the facts were passed to the Ministry of
Food in the hope that the Ministry would themselves take
action, but the matter was taken no further. It is
interesting to note that not long afterwards prosecutions
were taken in respect of similar transactions in other
parts of the London area and convictions were obtained.
The vendors of the jellies were not again permitted to
occupy a stall in the Market Place.
The various herbs were sample at a food preparing
factory where they were being used in the manufacturing
processes.
The fact that no sample of m ilk failed to reach the
prescribed standard is an indication that this valuable
article of food is less often tampered with than was the
case in the nnt too distant past. There are several
possible explanations for this improvement, but in all
probability, the principal reason is the frequency of
sampling, and the fact that the samples are obtained at
irregular intervals and without any possibility of any
vendor being forewarned of intention to sample. The
increase in the number of samples was due to a series of
samples taken" from individual farm supplies at the place
of delivery to local dairies.
The question has been asked as to the basis upon
which sampling is carried out. In the case of milk, the
samples are taken over as wide a field as possible. Apart
from those which are taken during the course of normal
retail deliveries, visits are also made to restaurants and
other catering establishments, so that samples may be taken
from bulk supplies at the time of delivery. It should also
be mentioned that the milk supplied to every day nursery
and school in the Borough was sampled during the year.
With regard to other articles of food, the selection depends
entirely on circumstances, but every opportunity is taken
to obtain a wide variety of samples and more particular
attention is paid to foodstuffs about which rather glowing
claims are made by the manufacturers.