POISON IN FOOD

Hokitika Guardian, 13 January 1925, Page 3

POISON IN FOOD

DOCTOR ON STUPID USE OK PKKSEKYATIY ES. A correspondent writing in the Louden “Daily .Mail” has the following to say on the use of preservatives in foods : Poisoned lood is the real source of a great deal of illness in Great Britain which is a i trilmteil to other causes. Doctors agree that immediate legislation is necessary to prevent the health of the nation being undermined by the use of harmful eheinieal preservatives and colouring matters contained in articles of daily diet. The effect of these poisons on the body was studied will) great care bv the departmental committee ol the Ministry of Health, which in its report definitely condemns them.. It has shown that chemicals absorbed in minute quantities daily gradually accumulate in the body. Boric acid taken in sausages or oilier preserved foods diminishes the digestive poweis. People who eat heartily may suddenly begin to lose weight. They never think that it is due to the poison nb:j orbed daily in apparently harmless dishes. They waste time taking medicine when they should stop taking boric acul. It is one of the most harndul preservatives. Analysts in the metropolitan area are constantly finding tins poison in food. A STOMACH IRRITANT. Salicylic acid is another source of ill-health. It is an irritant to the digestive organs. Sulphites, which are also used as preservatives, il taken steadily cause dyspepsia. Decaying meat if treated with sodium sulphite apparently “ revives ” and the bright red, flesh appearance is restored. • u - pbites are also used to “doctor” 'eelami wines.

||, lr U in attiwlivc pea which owes its bloom to a hat i in copper salts. Repeated dishes ol ibis drug administered in food may cause cirrhosis of the liver or a form'ol dtuA leading medical authority m the metropolitan area who has for years advocated legislation which would ensure a pure food supply said yertar- ' '-n is lamentable that we should to behind other nations in this If there is a country in thy '™*

which does not require preservatives it is our own. If some maimt.iHnmrs can do without them, all of them can. ■ A great deal of preserving is done stupidlv. It is not necessary. Manufacturers stick to the practice because it has always been done. W e must have legislation giving local nuthuiiies greater control over deafen, m lood. INSPECT ALL KOOD SI 101 S. “No person should he allowed to start a business for the handling or sale of food without official sanction. His premises should be carefully inspected before he is licensed. There should he constant supervision by a stall' of trained inspectors working un-

der each local authority. Of i nurse it will cost money, but no expense is too great where the .public health is con--CCI-"si!ops for the sale of cooked food spring up unchecked amid unsanitary surroundings. AYe medical oil,ecus of health can only protest U the I prietor likes he can laugh at us. The onlv class of food trader who is under proper surveillance is the dealci ” milk. Anyone can start a meat s o| under frightful conditions. 1 loom one in my district the other day. cannot close it. for the law w,U not P6i CTATBROUS LEGAL 85' STEAL “We want simple legal legislation and we want it at once. The . P^ v mac’ Inert- for enacting laws is too slow ana cumbrous Bv the time we get an Act passed it is out o - powers of the local authorities mu. t keep pace with the devolpme.it of knowledge. . . , , if -The report of the Ministry of Health Committee merely repeats w hat manv medical officers have been saying for years. All the preservatives condemned by the departmental comm - tee—formalin, salicylic acid, hone acid, and so forth-have been denounced by us constantly.”