SALE OF FOOD

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 January 1926, Page 6

SALE OF FOOD

SOME NEW REGULATIONS

An amending regulation under the Sale of Food and Drugs’ Act just issued contains several new provisions in regard’to preservatives, soft drinks, and other beverages, milk tests, etc. One provision is that the label attached to every package containing any preservative substance sold for the purpose of being added or applied to any food shall bear the chemical name of the preservative substance. A similar regulation applies to the artificial colourings and flavourings used in foods.

A new clause affecting the baby trade is that “milk bread shall be white bread or .bread to which milk, skimmed milk, condensed, dried or separated milk has been added. It shall otherwise conform to the standard of white bread.”

Regulation 38, which.deals with preserved eggs, is amended by the following addition “This regulation shall not apply to the eggs known as ‘Hahin Dahn’ (being salted eggs imported from China coated with a presor vatiive composition consisting mainly of salt and ashes), provided that before obtaining delivery of any such eggs the importer shall be required to make and sign in the presence of an officer of Customs, a. declaration that they are intended only for sale to and consumption by Chinese, and provided that such eggs are subsequently dealt with only for purposes connected with such' sale and consumption as aforesaid.”

There are amending regulations regarding the application of the reductive test to milk and how it shall be applied, and an addition to another clause will affect grocers and provision dealers selling imported jellies. This addition says: “Expressions or devices which indicate or suggest the presence of fruit or fruit-juices shall not appear on any statement or label attached to any package containing jelly crystals.” Provision is also made that pure fruit cordials or syrups shall bear labels stating the name of the fruit or fruits from which the contents have been prepared. Cordials artificially coloured or flavoured are to be so labelled distinctively. There are additional regulations on similar lines to those mentioned above in reference to pure fruit non-ferment-ed beverages, which are to be composed of the juices in their natural condition of sound fruits, with sweetening ancT permitted preservative matter.