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Rh determining what deficiency in any of the normal constituents of genuine milk or cream, or what addition of extraneous matter or proportion of water, in any sample of milk (including condensed milk) or cream, shall for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that the milk or cream is not genuine.” Much evidence of the highest interest to dairy-farmers was taken, and subsequently published as a Blue-Book (Cd. 484). The report of the committee (Cd. 491) included the following “recommendations,” which were signed by all the members excepting one:—

 I. That regulations under section 4 of the Food and Drugs Act 1899 be made by the board of agriculture with respect to milk (including condensed milk) and cream.  II. (a) That in the case of any milk (other than skimmed, separated or condensed milk) the total milk-solids in which on being dried at 100° C. do not amount to 12% a presumption shall be raised, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is deficient in the normal constituents of genuine milk.

&emsp;(b) That any milk (other than skimmed, separated or condensed milk) the total milk-solids in which are less than 12%, and in which the amount of milk-fat is less than 3.25%, shall be deemed to be deficient in milk-fat as to raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that it has been mixed with separated milk or water, or that some portion of its normal content of milk-fat has been removed. In calculating the percentage amount of deficiency of fat the analyst shall have regard to the above-named limit of 3.25% of milk-fat.

&emsp;(c) That any milk (other than skimmed, separated or condensed milk) the total milk-solids in which are less than 12%, and in which the amount of non-fatty milk-solids is less than 8.5%, shall be deemed to be so deficient in normal constituents as to raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that it has been mixed with water. In calculating the percentage amount of admixed water the analyst shall have regard to the above-named limit of 8.5% of non-fatty milk-solids, and shall further take into account the extent to which the milk-fat may exceed 3.25%.  III. That the artificial thickening of cream by any addition of gelatin or other substance shall raise a presumption that the cream is not genuine.

IV. That any skimmed or separated milk in which the total milk-solids are less than 9% shall be deemed to be so deficient in normal constituents as to raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that it has been mixed with water.

V. That any condensed milk (other than that labelled “machine-skimmed milk” or “skimmed milk,” in conformity with section 11 of the Food and Drugs Act 1899) in which either the amount of milk-fat is less than 10%, or the amount of non-fatty milk-solids is less than 25%, shall be deemed to be so deficient in some of the normal constituents of milk as to raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that it is not genuine.

The committee further submitted the following expressions of opinion on points raised before them in evidence:—

 (a) That it is desirable to call the attention of those engaged in the administration of the Food and Drugs Acts to the necessity of adopting effective measures to prevent any addition of water, separated or condensed milk, or other extraneous matter, for the purpose of reducing the quality of genuine milk to any limits fixed by regulation of the board of agriculture.

(b) That it is desirable that steps should be taken with the view of identifying or “ear-marking” separated milk by the addition of some suitable and innocuous substance, and by the adoption of procedure similar to that provided by section 7 of the Food and Drugs Act 1899, in regard to margarine.

(c) That it is desirable that, so far as may be found practicable, the procedure adopted in collecting, forwarding, and retaining pending examination, samples of milk (including condensed milk) and cream under the Food and Drugs Acts should be uniform.

(d) That it is desirable that, so far as may be found practicable, the methods of analysis used in the examination of samples of milk (including condensed milk) or cream taken under the Food and Drugs Acts should be uniform.

(e) That it is desirable in the case of condensed milk (other than that labelled “machine-skimmed milk” or “skimmed milk,” in conformity with section 11 of the Food and Drugs Act 1899) that the label should state the amount of dilution required to make the proportion of milk-fat equal to that found in uncondensed milk containing not less than 3.25% of milk-fat.

(f) That it is desirable in the case of condensed whole milk to limit, and in the case of condensed machine-skimmed milk to exclude, the addition of sugar.

(g) That the official standardizing of the measuring vessels commercially used in the testing of milk is desirable.

In the minority report, signed by Mr Geo. Barham, the most important clauses are the following:—

(a) That in the case of any milk (other than skimmed, separated or condensed milk) the total milk-solids in which are less than 11.75%, and in which, during the months of July to February inclusive, the amount of milk-fat is less than 3%, and in the case of any milk which during the months of March to June inclusive shall fall below the above-named limit for total solids, and at the same time shall contain less than 2.75% of fat, it shall be deemed that such milk is so deficient in its normal constituent of fat as to raise a presumption, for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not genuine.

(b) That any milk (other than skimmed, separated or condensed milk) the total milk-solids in which are less than 11.75%, and in which the amount of non-fatty solids is less than 8.5%, shall be deemed to be so deficient in its normal constituents as to raise a presumption, for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not genuine. In calculating the amount of the deficiency the analyst shall take into account the extent to which the milk-fat exceeds the limits above named.

(c) That any skimmed or separated milk in which the total milk-solids are less than 8.75% shall be deemed to be so deficient in its normal constituents as to raise a presumption, for the purpose of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not genuine.

Much controversy arose out of the publication of these reports, the opinion most freely expressed being that the standard recommended in the majority report was too high. The difficulty of the problem is illustrated by, for example, the diverse legal standards for milk that prevail in the United States, where the prescribed percentage of fat in fresh cows’ milk ranges from 2.5 in Rhode Island to 3.5 in Georgia and Minnesota, and 3.7 (in the winter months) in Massachusetts, and the prescribed total solids range from 12 in several states (11.5 in Ohio during May and June) up to 13 in others. Standards are recognized in twenty-one of the states, but the remaining states have no laws prescribing standards for dairy products. That the public discussion of the reports of the committee was effective is shown by the following regulations which appeared in the London Gazette on the 6th of August 1901, and fixed the limit of fat at 3%:—

The board of agriculture, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 4 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1899, do hereby make the following regulations:—

1. Where a sample of milk (not being milk sold as skimmed, or separated or condensed milk) contains less than 3% of milk-fat, it shall be presumed for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not genuine, by reason of the abstraction therefrom of milk-fat, or the addition thereto of water.

2. Where a sample of milk (not being milk sold as skimmed, or separated or condensed milk) contains less than 8.5% of milk-solids other than milk-fat, it shall be presumed for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not genuine, by reason of the abstraction therefrom of milk-solids other than milk-fat, or the addition thereto of water.

3. Where a sample of skimmed or separated milk (not being condensed milk) contains less than 9% of milk-solids, it shall be presumed for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, until the contrary is proved, that the milk is not genuine, by reason of the abstraction therefrom of milk-solids other than milk-fat, or the addition thereto of water.

4. These regulations shall extend to Great Britain.

5. These regulations shall come into operation on the 1st of September 1901.

6. These regulations may be cited as the Sale of Milk Regulations 1901.

In July 1901 another departmental committee was appointed by the board of agriculture to inquire and report as to what regulations, if any, might with advantage be made under section 4 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1899, for determining what deficiency in any of the normal constituents of butter, or what addition of extraneous matter, or proportion of water in any sample of butter should, for the purpose of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved,