DOMINION ANALYST.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 27 April 1925, Page 8

DOMINION ANALYST.

INTERESTING REPORT. All sorts of queer things engage the close investigation of the Dominion Analyst, and he makes some astonishing discoveries, that is as the public would regard them. For himself, with the cold detachment of the scientific investigator, he goes to work with Bunsen llainc and retort, and deals with facts. He leaves the other issues to those directly. concerned. In his report for 1923, just published, he shows how he dealt with samples of liquor, medicated wine, and horse medicines submitted by the police. He, discovered that the medicines contained ingredients that were much under British pharmaceutical strength. But it has to be borne in mind that they were for administration to equine patients. Samples of boric acid and cream of tartar, submitted by the Customs, were fo;und to contain “more than the amounts of lead or of arsenic” permitted under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act. “In consequence of the detection last year of small amounts' of arsenic in beer,” reports the Analyst, “samples were examined from every brewery in the Dominion. The permissible limit, one-hundredth of a grain of arsenious oxide per gallon, was exceeded in three eases only, and in these steps were at once taken to effect the standard.” SCSPECTED SAUSAGES.

Dr. MacLaurin reports that inspectors under the Saif of Food and Drugs Act were active during the year, and forwarded a great variety of foodstuff's and some medieianal preparations for analysis This list comprised apples, beer! boric acid, bread butter, carbonate of potash, carbonate of soda, coined beef. Bartlett pears, cheese, cherries, chocolate creams, cocoa. c«ft‘ee and chicory, condensed -milk, cordials, cream, cream of tartar, custard-powder, dried figs, fish, rag, flock flour, flyexterminator, ground cocoa-shell, honey, ice-cream, invert sugar, jam, jelly, lemonade, liquors, liquid paraffin. malt-extract, oatmeal, olive-oil, oysters, pepper, potassium-iodide tablets, raspberry pulp,: salmon, salt, sausages. semolina, tea, tomato-sauce, vay-illa-essenc-e, vinegar, wheats, whitebait, whitebait preservative, table-creams, wine. ANCIENT CANNED GOODS. The liquors analysed complied with the regulations, with the. exception ofsome alleged’ schnapps, which showed considerable variation from .- the genuine schiiiipps. Several samples' of ico cream were deficient in milk fat. Preservatives were detected in tomato sauce, beer, and whitebait. Artificial colours were found occasionally in jams, cordials, and other foodstuff's in which their use is contrary to regulations. ' The canned goods, examined were chiefly from stocks seized by inspectors as unfit for consumption, and were almost invariably found to be affected by prolonged storage, or to show signs l of decomposition. WATERLOGGED BUTTER.

Special attention was paid to butter, of which samples were received during the year. \Three- contained a slight excess of water, and thirteen a decided excess.

“The highest percentage of water found was 21.9, representing illegitimate profit of approximately Id per pound. More frequent inspection is required to check this quite common form of adulteration,” remarks Dr. MacLa urin. The number of samples of milk taken during the year under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act and analysed in the laboratory was 2325.