BORIC ACID IN BACON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 382, 16 June 1928, Page 12

BORIC ACID IN BACON

CASE FOR THE CURER LARGE CONCERNS AFFECTED Recently the Depa-tment of Health, on the advice of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, decided to suspend temporarily the regulations prohibiting the use of boric acid in the curing of bacon. Considerable criticism has been levelled at the Department as a result ef it* action. It Is contended by the critics, supported by medical testimony, that the use of boric is detrimental to the health of the community. Argument is also advanced to show that a good palatable bacon can be produced without tne use of boric. To a large extent this is admitted by curers, but they contend that until some substitute can be found for boric its continued elimination from bacon-curing methods would be disastrous to those concerns carrying on anything else but a very limited local trade where frequent deliveries of small parcels are possible. This has been proved during the past six months during which time the regulations have been enforced. Losses registered by bacon companies have been considerable, especially on parcels of bacon consigned to parts distant from the factory. increase In Consumption During the past ten years there has been an increase of approximately 100 per cent., in the amount of pork products consumed in the Dominion. The public has come to demand a mild cured bacon, arid thi3 demand has been fostered by users of boric acid. No other method has yet proved satisfactory. The case for the curers can be put in a very few words. While it is admittedly possible to turn out a mild cured bacon without boric, the process takes longer and the finished product will not stand handling in the hot weather to the same extent as that cured with a slight addition of boric. The bacon is also more susceptible to fly. Exhaustive investigations conducted in various parts of the Dominion by officers of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research proved this, and it was as a result of their findings that the regulations have been temporarily suspended. The regulations had little effect on small curers with a limited local trade but, concerns which had built up large organisations over many years of trading and were consigning to all parts of the country were seriously handicapped. Claims from country districts were particularly heavy. For the curers ft is contended that attention at the moment might well be directed to the treatment given bacon by the average storekeeper. If every care were taken here, the elimination of broic from curing might be more feasible, but. at present, the average storekeeper gave little thought to bacon as a perishable product and, instead of hanging it up on arrival in a cool room. It. was generally left sweatirg in a corner, frequently with other goods on top. Minister’s Viewpoint The question was brought to the notice o t the Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, in Wellington this week. The

Minister stated that representations had been made through the Department of Industries and Commerce and the Department of Industrial and Scientific Besearch that it was essential in the interests of a number of curers—and incidentally the pig-raising industry—who are unable to produce a satisfactory bacon without the aid of boracic preservative to suspend the regulations and permit the ° f b °rie acid in the cure of bacon and ham for twelve months. This was in order to enable the Scicntiflc and Industrial Research Department to carry out experiments with a view to seeing whether certain firms who admit that they cannot make good bacon in the summer time without the use' of boracic can be assisted in some way to overcome their difficulties. The Minister made it clear that he had no intention of moving to gazette regulations which would permit the use of boric, as he fully believed that good bacon and ham could vative dG wlthout the use of boric preser-

Tf a temporary relaxation of the regulations would assist the industry then he was prepared to accept the criticism which would inevitably be directed against him by the advocates of pure foods, and those manufacturers who were able to place a first-class product on the market without the use of boric preservative.