PURE FOOD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 114, 10 December 1908, Page 2

PURE FOOD.

Health Department's Work.

The operation of the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act, passed last session (says the Dominion,) is giving a good deal of satisfaction to the chief health officer (Dr Mason). The Act empowers the Health Department to set up standards of purity for all 3orts of foods and drugs, and prevent dealing in articles which do not fulfil the requirements. The Department has investigated the standards of all countries over the world, with a view to forming standards for the Dominion.

The whole matter has required very careful handling, but a good deal has already been done, and samples had been taken of sweetmeats, preserved foods of all kinds, vinegar, bread, milk, and brandies, to see if they satisfy the standards. The Department has tried to learn what are the current adulterants on the market, and has had to decide how far they can be prohibited without absolute injustice to the trader.

Liquor in hotels has not been dealt with under this Act, but samples for analysis have been taken, from time to time, under an older measure, the Adulteration of Foods Prevention Act. There is a fairly general impression that all sorts of compounds are occasionally put in beer, for the sake of increasing the thirst and other objects. From time to time specific allegations of this kind have been made to the Health Department in respect of certain hotels, an 1 beer samples have been taken for analysis, but no worse adulterants have been found than water. About 60 samples of whiskey were taken in Canterbury last year. The spirit was proved good, with the exception of a few samples, in which dilution was evident.