[Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Ramsgate Borough.

  • Ramsgate (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Ramsgate Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/68 (page 34)
    Particulars of the twelve formal Samples reported by the Public Analyst to be not genuine, and action take in regard to each of these samples : — Identification No. of Sample Article. Result of Analysis. Action i aken. Result. 374 Milk 7% deficient in milk fat. Legal proceeding instituted. 4 Cases dismissed. Vendor in each case successfully 373 Milk 9% deficient in milk fat. Legal proceedings instituted. set up case ot HUNT v. RICH¬ ARDSON as the \ defence. 415 Milk 1 % deficient in milk fat. Vendor cautioned. 341 Medicine 1 1 % deficient in Quinine Sulphate, 3% excess of Fer¬ rous Sulphate. Vendor cautioned. 342 Medicine 8% deficient in Quinine Sulphate. Vendor cautioned. 343 Medicine 7% deficient in Quinine Sulphate. Vendor cautioned. 344 Medicine 19% deficient in Ferrous Sulphate, 15% excess of Quinine Sulphate. Vendor cautioned. 345 Medicine 5% deficient in Quinine Sulphate, 10% deficient in Ferrous Sulphate. Vendor cautioned. 369 Coffee 17% Chicory. Legal proceedings instituted. Fined £1. 391 * 392 400 Butter Butter Vinegar 378% of water in excess. 4‘63% of water in excess. 30% extraneous water. Legal proceedings instituted. Legal proceedings instituted. Legal proceedings instituted. Case dismissed on warranty de¬ fence. Dismissed o n payment of 6/- costs. Fined £2. * The case having been dismissed against the vendor of sample No. 391 on warranty defence, legal proceedings were instituted against the wholesale firm who gave the false warranty and the case was dismissed on payment of £2 16s. Od. costs. Reference was made in the annual report for 1919 to the unsatis¬ factory state of the-law under which vendors of milk of inferior quality escape penalties if they satisfy magistrates that nothing was done to the milk after it left the cows—so that improper food may be given to increase the quantity of milk at the expense of quality, milking may take place at proper or improper intervals, and cows may be milked dry or the richest portions may be left, and, as a Justice in the High Court remarked, a farmer at present in distributing milk is entitled by law to give a preference to his calves over the babies of his customers. It seems strange that such an unsatisfactory state of affairs should be allowed to continue, especially as the real facts may be abstraction of fat or adulteration after milking, and that a remedy is not applied b}r fixing an absolute legal standard of quality below which it should be an offence to sell or deliver milk.