FOOD WE EAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1924, Page 6

FOOD WE EAT.

USE OF PRESERVATIVES. WHOLE MEAL AND FLOUR. TESTS OF ANAESTHETICS. The report of the Dominion Laboratory for 1922 has been published. It describes & great variety of work, a total of 4579 samples having been examined. Among those submitted by the Department of Health were samples of borax, which enters into the composition of many preservatives, and has frequently been found in Great Britain to contain from 10 to 350 parts, of arsenic per million—the British *Pharmocopaeia limit is 5 parts. Preservatives were detected in some foodstuffs in which they are not permitted. Borje acid was found in four samples of bacon and three of whitebait, and salicylic acid in lemon squash. The use of artificial colours is still pi evalent, especially in cordials, Jam, and butter flavourings. Mis-labelling of food products was observed in, the case of Jam, vinegar, and egg powder. There is a tendency to label vinegar as “malt vinegar,” without respect to the materials used in the manufacture.

Samples of flour and several oatmeal and wheatmeal preparations were analysed to enable comparisons of their nutritive values to be made. It was found that the amount of fat in the wheat whole meals is almost twice that found in the flours. The reduction in the amount of mineral matter is, however, more striking, the flours containing only one-third of the amount oc mineral matter present in the wheatnwals. The phosphoric anhydride has suffered a corresponding reduction. If it is established that the vitamine content of flour runs parallel to the phosphoric anhydride, the results show that the white flours sold in New Zealand tire very deficient in vitamines when compared with the whole meals. In respect the oat preparations—ranging from crushed oats to finely ground meal—it was found that in none of these preparations has the process or milling materially reduced the percentage of fat. or of phosphoric anhydride. In milling wheat the phosphoric anhydride is reduced from 1 per cent, in whole wheat to 0.20 per cent, in patent flour. If the vitamine consent runs parallel to the phosphoric anhydride (as it does in wheat and corn products) the oat products examined are all equally rich in vitamines and not inferior in that respect to the unmilled oats.

A special investigation was made of chloroform - and ether for anaesthesia, llie results are given in detail in the report, the conclusion being that both arc liable to deterioration through age. The analyst, Dr. J. S. Maclaurin, therefore recommends that manufacturers should be required to state on the bottles the date of manufacture of these anaesthetics.