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189
If you should consider it within ray province to
give advice to bakers, T would venture to suggest
that the introduction of Salt is too much a matter
of guess-work. The quantity I would suggest, as
derived from the analysis of several hundred
samples (of sixty-one in Camberwell), would be
half-a-pound to the hundred pounds of bread.
Some bakers have applied over one pound per
hundred; and, in such cases, not only has the
bread an appreciably salt taste, but it does not keep
as well as with the smaller quantity. Several bakers
have used so little salt as to constitute a mere trace.
Now this is a serious matter, as your Medical Officer
will point out, if I may venture, without consulting
him, to use his authority. The children of many
poor people obtain all the salt they take as food
either in their bread or their butter. If, then, the
salt is almost absent from bread, an unhealthy
condition of body must be engendered. The
microscope often reveals the absence of such perfect
cleanliness as is desirable in food. Hut I must add
that this is much more the case with the ovens.
There is more cinder in many crnsts than most of
us would care for.
The moisture in the bread is a fair average;
the variations not at all great.