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105
Analysts' Annual Report
To the Wandsworth Borough Council,
Mr. Mayor, Madam and Gentlemen,
Herewith we have pleasure in submitting for your consideration
our Annual Report on work performed by us under
the Food and Drugs Adulteration Act, 1928, during 1929.
The above Act, which was, in fact, a consolidation Act,
came into force on 1st January, 1929, superseding the Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts, of 1875, et seq.
The Borough is to be congratulated on the fact that, during
the first year in which this Act has been administered, the.
adulteration reported in samples submitted for analysis is
as low as 1.9 per cent.; whereas, twenty years ago, in 1909
the adulteration detected amounted to practically 7 per cent.
This drop is the more remarkable when one takes into
account the fact that during these twenty years, the addition
of any colouring matter to Milk and of any preservative in
most articles of food has been made an offence.
It also draws attention to the fact that more inspection
of Foods and Drugs is carried out, since 2,000 samples were
procured for analysis in the year under review, only 1,030 being
submitted to the Public Analyst in 1909.
Perhaps the most satisfactory feature of this report is the
low percentage of adulteration returned in the Milk samples
examined, being, as it is, 1.6 as compared to 7.3 in 1909. In
no case was preservative, colouring matter or dirt detected in
any sample, and of the fourteen samples reported against, the
deviation from the legal standard was serious in only two,
which were cases of deficiency in Milk fat. The highest amount