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Hokitika Guardian, 16 October 1933, Page 4

The not’d of a new Act of Parliament setting out definite standards for the composition of certain articles of food and regulations for governing the way in which they may be described is urged by Mr if. H. Bagnall, the Birmingham city analyst. “A new Act is urgently necessary which wiii take into account the very different conditions prevailing at the present day as compared with those of 1875, when tne present food and drugs legislation was originally passed,” he states. ‘'Descriptions of and standards for a largo variety of foods and compounded articles are necessary, particularly for flic latter, of which very few examples existed in 1875 ,and which, therefore, were not adequately provided for in the Act. Of the great Variety of artidles which may ’be examined by a public analyst, in only a few cases has an attempt been made to fix any sort of standard of comnosi-

tion,s so that- the ordinary purchaser is often in doubt what he ought to get when demanding a particular article. The only foodstuffs for which there is a standard laid down are condensed milk and dried milk (composition and label), spirits (percentage of proof spirit), butter and margarine (amount of water), and the amounts of certain specified preservatives in a number of foodstuffs. There is also a so-called presumptive limit laid down for milk, a sample being presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be adulterated if the pc rootage of fat or solids-not-fat fall below a definite figure. In all other cases a standard of composition has to be fixed by the analyst himself and stated on his certificate. Ibis may be challenged by the defence, and the decision as to whether the standard so set up is a reasonable one is left to the magistrate. This is unfair both to the magistrate, the purchaser and the analyst.”