WHAT WE EAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13766, 3 June 1908, Page 4

WHAT WE EAT.

DANGERS OF THE TABLE. SOME COMMERCIAL SINS. ADULTERATION AND DIRT. " Our Dominion is ahead of the rest of 1 the world in some things, but it is behind in this matter." . This, in regard to a country that is popularly supposed to lead the ; world in almost everything, might sound like rank heresy. The speaker, however, was one of Auckland's best-known medical practitioners, and the. subjectthat of the inspection of foods and drugs—is one upon which he may safely be regarded as having a claim to speak with some degree of authority. "I think," he said, in response to a: Hiskald.representative, "that all food, liquor, and drugs should be inspected and proved to bo." absolutely pure before they are offered to the public." The. necessity for this meed of protection to the unwary and unsuspecting consumers of the various foods and liquors that- are offered to them in more or less tempting form has long been recognised in England, and other countries, including several of the Australian States, arid last year' the New Zealand Parliament reaffirmed the principle by passing " an Act to make better provision for the sale of food and .drug.-; in a pure state." The Act, which became law on .January- 1, is as yet only partially in force, and some further time will elapse before it. will be in full operation. In the meantime the officers of the Health Department are proceeding to give effect to the provisions of the i Act to the extent to which the regulations issued under the Act will cany them. Inspector Grieve, of the \ Auckland Health Office, is giving the subject his attention and has already for analysis samples of bread, milk, jam, and other articles which are provided for by the first batch of regulations. VIEW'S OF MEDICAL MEN. The unseen dangers that lurk around us in our daily food, ever ready to make, an attack at any vulnerable point, have formed the theme of many a medical lecture and scientific essay. These perils form one of the insidious ills that modern flesh isv heir to, their influence upon the health of a community is recognised as an important, one. A few opinions gather- i ed from several leading doctors in the city,show that whilst, as will be readily un- ; derstood, there are very, few cases of sick- : ness that are directly attributable to the use of adulterated food, the continued use of food thus treated may tend to have an injurious effect upon our systems. This is the case in regard particularly to preservatives, such as boric acid and formalin, which are sometimes used to conceal the injurious properties of unwholesome compounds, and the presence of which, without a -chemical analysis, is difficult to detect. The addition of boric acid and formalin to milk, for r instance, has not been unknown in the past, and while it is stated that there has been an improvement in this connection, eternal vigilance is the only price that will ensure a certainty of purity in all cases. "The majority of adulterations," said another doctor, "are harmless, and the use of them is more a commercial sin than one against the public health." The Sale of Food and Drugs Act, however, is- aimed at not 'only those whose dishonest practices endanger health, . but ; also those whose offence, to. adopt the doctor's euphemism, is nothing more venial than "a commercial sin." • The Act provides the. machinery for its administration, but the material for putting the machinery into motion is supplied ,by regulations made by Order-in-Council. The act contains an exemption clause, which provides that a vendor of any goods provided for in the regulations may be allowed twelve months' grate after the date of the gazetting of the regulations for the disposal of goods that may be proved to have formed part of his stock-in-trade on, such date. The manufacturer or seller of goods that are below the specific standard is thus enabled for a year to unload his stocks on to his customers without fear of interference, and.it would be well for the public to observe caution in regard to any lines of goods that lend themselves to adulteration, and which are Offered during the next few months at low "bargain" juices. The regulations already gazetted have previously been explained in these columns. These cover some 20 of the more common of daily necessaries, and they will be followed by further batches of regulations as occasion requires.' PROTECTION FROM DIRT.. Adulteration, however, is not the only evil against which the careful housewife has to guard in connection with the daily food supplies of the household. Protection from contact with various forms of dirt is a very important point. One of the doctors with whom our representative conversed on the subject, said: —"There is a great deal of dirt about our streets in summer, and all sorts of food should be carefully protected, more particularly meat, fruit, and vegetables that are eaten uncooked. It seems to me," lie said, "to be a relic of barbarism that meat should be hung up in an open shop, and exposed to all the dessiccated disease germs that arc blown off the street by .the wind in millions. . No doubt a great many of those germs are destroyed in cooking, but the danger is greater in regard to fruit and vegetables that are to be eaten without being cooked. One does not think of washing apples and pears, but we ought to do so. The washing that the salad vegetables get in the summer time is hardly sufficient to ensure them being free from the germs that are flying about. " Then, again, lake our milk supply,"the doctor continued, "I think it is certainly better now than it lias ever been before, but still if one went to the trouble of collecting the sediment at the bottom of every glass of milk the aggregate in the country would amount to probably some tons of manure in the course of a year. Many of the frequent cases of gastro-eiileritis that occcur are, I honestly believe, traceable to the milk—not to any impurities in the milk itself, but to outside germs deposited in it. The Health Department is hard at work, and we are advancing, but there is still -much to be done before we can claim perfectionin these matters."

The danger that sometimes lurks in tinned goods is another matter upon which the interviewer sought expressions of professional opinion. The reply was (hat great care required to be exercised in regard to such goods, particularly tinned fish and meats. Cases of sickness, such as ptomaine poisoning, attributable -to such causes were not, he said, very frequent, but they were liable to occur if the contents of the tin were allowed to remain therein for any length of time after being opened. Fish and meat should be turned out into a dish— a glass dish being preferable. " I think that most people are aware of this, and it is carelessness rather than ignorance that has to be feared." ..'..,: