PURE FOOD & LABELS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1784, 24 June 1913, Page 6

PURE FOOD & LABELS.

THE CHANGES COMING. MINISTER'S HINT TO SELLERS. (Br !M«sr'ap!i.—Prefix Ajsooiitlon.) Christchurch, June 23. In the course of an interview the Hon. R. H. Rhodes, Minister for Public Health, stated that so far the outcome of the .regulations under the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act, which came into operation on April 1 last, was giving him.much satisfaction. Ono of tho concessions made by the Department had been in tho direction of permitting the uso of such lube's as happened to be stock-in-trade on that date, provided tliat any important statements or declarations, now required by the regulations, were shown by aiuled labels or by stamping. . This permission had been agreeably received by tho manufacturers and agents concerned. . Tho Minister stated that advice is being sought by manufacturers and others from the district health officers and the eb'ef health officer regarding labelling in the future, but nevertheless lie was not satisfied that the facilities offered bj; the Department in this regard were being mado as full use of as the interests of the manufacturer, tho public and tho Department itself warranted. Ho therefore took this opportunity of impressing upon manufacturers and others the advisability of making sure bv direct communication with the lietutii oMcers that their future labels would be regarded by the Department as completely in conformity with .the requirements of the Act and regulations. 1 hat was a very practical point. Thq Minister insisted that its monetary side should appeal to those concerned. It might oe that, in all good faith, a manufacturer would draw up a label conforming, as ho believed, with all that the regulations required, whereas, some small but important detail having been omitted, ho would subsequently be informed by the Department that it could not be allowed, and that an entirely new set of labels must be purchased and The officers 01 the Department, he added,' were becoming day by day more experienced in the requirements of the'labellihg of the many foodstuffs dealt with by the regulations, and after this announcement the Minister could only assure tho manufacturers and others that, if they failed to make use of the Department in the way he,had set forth, they would have only themselves, to blame for any inadvertent happenings, and that his sympathy would not be with them when the time came to grumble as. he felt sure would otherwise lie the case. Continuing, the Minister said: "ThcTO is one aspect of tho Puro Food question which I may candidly say is now greatly concerning *us. The aim of the regulations is that every housewife—she is primarily most concerned—may clearly see by the label displayed on any package of food what exactly is its description, and what is the quantity of tho contents of the purchase which she makes. I am satisfied that the regulations can very well secure this. On the other hand it appears that the dishonest- trader can ad-, vertise his wares in many specious ways, either totally discounting or qualifying, o:' denying statements which he is now required to display on the labels of tho food he may be advertising. As I have indicated this is a serious aspect of the question. I am satisfied that steps must be taken to cope with this difficulty. After ir.ore full inquiry into all the sides of the question I hope shortly to announce exactly what I propose doing to remove this flaw —one, indeed, which would much mili-; tate against the efforts of the Government to secure the fullest straightforwardness in all matters concerning our food supplies."