The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1904. FOOD AND ADULTERATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 200, 22 August 1904, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1904. FOOD AND ADULTERATION.

For the cause that lacks assistance. Far the \crong thmt needs , etietanoa. For the future in the distance, And the good, that we can do.

It is reported in our cables to-day that n lanre number of cases :>f trilk poisoning have occurred at Bristol, and that the epidemic is supposed to be traceable to the presence of injurious drugs used a.* preservatives. ThU incident may serve -to direct a little ne-

cessary -attention to our own milk supply. In the Colonial Analyst's report for last year, just published, it is stat ed that out of six samples of milk analysed, five failed to come up to the required standard of strength and purity; and no doubt similar results could be obtained elsewhere if f — 4V — '-> —- tigations were made. Considering the widespread use of milk as an article of food for children, it is exceedingly important., that the regulations as to quality and freedom from adulteration should be strictly enforced. It is well known that milk is a medium peculiaiv ly favourable to the growth of disease germs, and it is in the highest degree necessary that every practicabrc precaution should be taken to preclude any possibility of injury to the public health through a tainted milk supply. In Sydney, serious complaints have lately been made by the Board of Health as to the harm done to infants not only by the adulteration of milk, but by the excessive use of preservatives, such as boracic acid. It is true that the Departmental Commission which investigated this question in England in 1901 came to the conclusion that the evidence on the subject of bor•eie acid as a preservative was not sufficiently decisive to warrant its entire prohibition. But at the same time there can be ao doubt that the presence of any kind of e_e__e_l preservative in such an article of diet as milk is calculated to injure health either directly or indirectly. In England the finding of the committee on the use of preservatives in food was to the effect that no preservatives should be allowed in milk "intended for consumption as such." As regards milk, the report of the SydneyBoard of Health states that "There is •a absolute consensus of opinion first as to the nse_te__ne_s of chemical pre*

serratives in mOk, secondly as regards tbe ill-effect en the production of milk caused by the rise of chemical preservatives (for drags cover up the results of dirty methods and of imperfect processes of manufacture), and thirdly as to the extreme madvisability of permitting the admixture of drugs with a liquid which is the sole sustenance of infants and of the sick, and often the chief food of the delicate of all ages." Under some con_stio_s sulphurous acid, boric acid, salieyHe acid, and benzoic acid may be introduced into certain kinds of preserved foods with impunity; but the weight of evidence certainly seems against their general employment. In butter, boric acid in very small proportions was permitted by the British Commission, but only under a sort of protest, on the ground that the "trade" all over the world seems to have adopted it. It is to be hoped that no experiments of this kind will be allowed to injure the splendid prospects of New Zealand butter. To-day's cables show that our butter is steadily growing in public favour, and that it ha« deservedly gained a very high reputation. This result has bean attained partly by our careful methods of grading, but chiefly through the care and cleanliness exercised in our dairies, under the inspection of our energetic depaxtmen!.al officials. But any attempt to improve our position artificially by the reckless use of preservative drug, might have a most disastrous effect upon the future of the trada. However, even tbe prospects of the dairy industry are of small importance) compared with the security of public health; and it would be interesting to „now what precautions are taken, for example, in Auckland to prevent the adulteration of our miik supply by preservatives or otherwise.