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REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ANALYST.
(Mr. Thomas McLachlan, A.C.G.F.C., F.I.C.).
It is satisfactory to note that the percentage of adulteration (2.6%) during the year under
review is less than it has been for many years in Fulham, and would have been still lower
(2.0%) if it had not been for a complaint regarding tinned fish, to which reference will be made
later.
Of a total of 566 samples of milk and skimmed milk, six only (1.06%) were reported
as adulterated. An informal sample submitted to the Medical Officer of Health as being "bad"
was found to be 36% deficient in fat, but as this had been taken from the bottom of a jug, the
probability was that the person making the complaint had poured off most of the fat with the
creamy layer. A formal sample taken in the course of delivery from the vendor was found to
be satisfactory. Another sample was found to contain 1.4% of added water and to be 13.7%
deficient in fat. A third sample was over 50% deficient in fat, and in this case the application for
a licence to sell milk in Fulham was refused. The other three samples were slightly deficient in
fat.
Of a total of 364 samples of foods, other than milk, beers, or spirits, 16 (or 4.4%) were
reported as adulterated.
Two samples of butter were found to contain 1% of excessive water. It is found in general
that good butter usually only contains about 12—14% of water, so that the Regulation requiring
butter not to contain more that 16% of water is not too stringent.
One sample of shredded suet was found to contain 20% of rice starch. At Christmas time
the charge made for suet is 1s. per lb., and with the ground rice at approximately one-sixth
this price it will be seen that the addition of more than 15% of starch is definitely fraudulent.
Two samples of ground nutmeg, one informal and the other a formal sample from the same
vendor, were found to contain a small quantity of St. Vincent arrowroot. Inspection of the
vendor's premises showed that various spices, starches, etc., were kept in a chest of drawers, and
that products leaked from one drawer into another.
In one case, where the inspector asked for allspice, he was supplied with pickling spice.
Allspice is the popular name for pimento, a small berry which looks rather like black pepper,
and although it is used in pickling spice and for flavouring pickles, it should not be confounded
with pickling spice, which is composed of a mixture of various spices.
As a result of the Spanish Civil War there was a shortage of almonds at the beginning
of the season, and consequently a tendency to supply substitutes Mixtures sold definitely as
substitutes are a simple matter with which to deal; but powders made from ground apricot kernels
require considerable care in their examination. In no case was any sample submitted by the
inspector found to be other than genuine ground almonds.
In other parts of the country there have also been several complaints about the presence
ot magnesium carbonate in ground white pepper, but none was detected in any sample
examined in Fulham. At one time it was considered necessary to add some substance to pepper
in order to facilitate grinding, but millers have now overcome this difficulty, so that it is a
matter of argument as to whether such additions should be permissible or not. In the opinion
of your analyst it would be an advantage to have a standing Committee at the Ministry of