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The labelling of food continues to be one of my major preoccupations
and the second of Food Standards Committee's Reports has now
been published, the first being mentioned in my Annual Report for 1965.
This second report, called the Food Standards Committee Report on Claims
and Misleading Descriptions, makes some 27 recommendations with regard to
claims and 19 in regard to misleading descriptions. It also lays down
3 general principles which are worth repeating in this Annual Report as
they have undoubtedly influenced and will continue to influence our
judgment of what consitutes a misleading claim or description. We
Public Analysts have had to erect such principles in the past and it is
encouraging to find that the Committee supports our views not only in
principle but in their specific recommendations. The principles are
that s
1) No claim should be made in respect of a food unless the value
claimed is wholly contributed by the food and not partially
by other foods with which it may be consumed;
2) Comparisons should not be on a false basis, i.e. a low moisture
food compared with one consumed in large quantities;
3) Claims of specific benefit to health must be justified on
composition and the quantity normally consumed in one day.
Presumably proposals for Regulations and Regulations will follow
this Report and will receive mention in a future Annual Report.
Reference must also be made to the scheme of procuring data for
the amounts of Pesticide Residues in Food in which the London Borough of
Sutton and many other Authorities throughout England and Wales have
co-operated. The first year of the scheme ends in July 1967 and no doubt
the report on the first year's figures will be ready for the Annual Report
for 1967. So far no cases of the presence of abnormally large amounts of
residues have been found."
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