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 ADULTERATION

91 and Drugs Act 1875, broadly speaking, there cannot be any doubt. The preceding table, taken from the Report of the Local Government Board for 1900, shows clearly that the percentage of adulterated articles has steadily declined since 1877 from 19 per cent, of all samples analysed to 9 per cent. The effect, gratifying as it is, would have been still greater if many towns and districts had not neglected, in spite of pressure brought to bear upon them by Government and others, to put the Acts into w°rklng operation. The Acts compel the authorities to °ac^s appoint analysts, but until the Act of 1899 no means existed to force unwilling councils to collect samples for analysis, or in many cases, only so small and insignificant a number that food control was virtually nonexistent. As far, however, as statistics are available, figures prove that in districts where the Acts are more or less feebly administered the proportion of adulteration is greater than in others that vigorously apply the legal means for repressing fraud. Thus in 1890, Somersetshire, working the Acts efficiently, took one sample for analysis per annum for every 379 inhabitants, and the percentage of adulterated articles found was only 3‘6, or only about one third of the amount representing the average for the Number of Samples. Percentage Average percentwhole country. Gloucestershire, with one sample for 770 Tear. of age in QuinExamined, i Adulterated. Adulteration. quennial Periods. inhabitants, had 6'2 per cent, of adulteration ; Hampshire, with one sample for 1224 inhabitants, 12-2 per cent.; 14,706 1877 2,826 Derbyshire, with one sample for 3164 inhabitants, 17T 1878 16,191 2,782 1877-1881 1879 17,049 2,535 per cent.; Oxfordshire, with only one sample for 14,963, 16-2 1880 17,673 2,772 no less than 41 *7 per cent, of adulterated articles. Even 1881 17,823 2,613 in 1899 no samples whatever were officially analysed in 1882 19.439 2,931 seven English boroughs, while within the jurisdiction of 1883 19,648 2,955 1882-1886 1884 22,951 3,311 six counties and seven boroughs, with a total population 13-9 1885 23,230 3,076 of 600,000, only 139 samples were analysed during the 1886 23,596 2,813 year, and in 65 other districts the proportion examined 24.440 1887 3,134 was less than was deemed sufficient by the Local Govern1888 26,344 2,836 1887-1891 1889 26,956 ment Board. The public authorities, at the same time, 3,096 11-7 1890 27,465 3,069 recognize in most cases the material public benefit 1891 29,028 3,540 conferred by the various enactments. In 1899, 53,056 1892 4,009 32,447 samples were examined by public analysts : 4970 were 1893 37,233 4,793 1892-1896 1894 39,516 4,060 reported against, and proceedings were instituted against 10-6 1895 43,962 4,093 3110 vendors—fines amounting to £6258 being imposed. 1896 45.555 4,202 The increased vigilance on the part of the public officers 1897 46,856 4,383 is met by an increased application of science to adultera1898 49.555 4,319 tion. Thus, for some years the substitution of 1899 53,056 4,970 margarine for butter, an unabashed fraud, was common. The substitution, owing to advance adulteraSamples Analysed under Food Acts in 1899. tion. in methods of chemical analysis, being readily Number of Samples. Percentage Aduldiscoverable since 1874 and punished, mixtures of butter Description. terated in Examined. Adulterated. 1899. 1898. with gradually decreasing percentages of margarine were made and sold; and at the present time large quantities Milk 21,964 2,314 10-5 9-9 of mixtures, containing not more than 8 to 10 per cent, Bread 597 3 0-5 0-8 Flour of margarine, are freely imported from abroad and sold as 720 9 13 2-0 Butter 10,478 1,018 97 10-6 “ warranted pure ” butter, the mixing being done with Coffee 1,929 145 7-5 10-6 the assistance of skilled chemists, who, knowing the comSugar 575 34 5'9 2position of the pure article, carefully let it down by the 9 Mustard 693 22 3-2 39 addition of margarine to such a point that the mixture Confectionery and Jam 511 14 2'9 2still possesses the characters of pure, 7 though slightly Pepper. 1,638 21 1-3 0-8 abnormal butter, against which proceedings could not be Tea 565 2 0-4 3T undertaken with probability of conviction of the vendor. Lard 1,462 5 0-3 0T Wine Margarine, specially adapted for this fraud, is made by 87 1 IT 2-4 Beer 239 2 0-8 0-4 Dutch manufacturers. In milk, similarly, the skilful Spirits. 4,724 611 12-9 12-4 vendor, knowing the natural variations of milk, dilutes Drugs 2,475 440 17-8 11-9 or skims it to the exact point which experience has shown Other articles 4,399 329 7-5 5-0 to render him reasonably safe from detection. The whole Total 53,056 4,970 9-4 of the information contained in analytical literature, 8-7 primarily for the benefit of the analyst, is available to the As to the working of the highly complicated machinery fraudulent manufacturer, and no new process of analysis thus created since 1st January 1900 it is yet too early to appears without immediate effort on the part of the speak, but of the beneficial results of the Sale of Food mixer to circumvent and defeat it. Two practices which the labelling and branding of all boxes and vessels in which the article was conveyed and stored, as well as the marking of the papers in which the retail dealer sold it, with the word “ margarine,” even mixtures of the substitute with real butter coming under that obligation. It was probably hoped that by these means the trade in butter-substitutes might be checked or destroyed, but the contrary happened, the new name soon taking root, and the sale of the article increasing by leaps and bounds, in spite of the great rate of increase in the import of genuine butter. Thus the Margarine Act ran conjointly with the original Food Act of 1875 and the Amendment Act of 1879. The result was a further increase in modifying decisions of High Courts and increasing difficulty in interpreting the meaning of the Acts. Growing dissatisfaction was expressed by the vendors, wholesale and retail, and by the authorities who had to see the Acts enforced, and the outcome of much agitation was once more a parliamentary committee, appointed in 1894, and reappointed in 1896 and 1897, voluminous evidence being taken and considered, resulting finally in a fourth Act, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1899, again superimposed over the three prior pieces of legislation.