[Report 1941] / Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City.

  • Leeds City Council
Date:
1941
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1941] / Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    65/94 (page 55)
    examined was as follows, the figures for 1939 and 1940 being given for comparison :— 1939 I94°- I941- Non-fatty solids .. 8-78% .. 8-70% .. 8-65% Fat. 3-7i% •• 3‘72% •• 3-67% Total Solids 12-49% .. 12-42% .. 12-32% Food Substitutes.—Milk and Egg.—During 1941 a number of valueless products sold at excessive prices appeared under the desig¬ nation of milk substitute or egg substitute. Flour was the predom¬ inant ingredient in every case, the milk substitute powders containing in addition salt with or without a little sugar, and the egg substitute powders a small proportion of bicarbonate of soda, gum, and colouring matter. Proceedings were successfully instituted in respect of a number of these products sold both to the wholesale and retail trade. A conviction obtained at the Petty Sessions respecting an Egg Substitute powder was moreover upheld at the Quarter Sessions, and a case dismissed on a point of law was won on appeal by the Corporation in the King’s Bench Division following a case stated (Cummings v. British Fermentation Products, Ltd.). In addition, a liquid egg substitute was found to consist of coloured water containing 3 per cent, gum, and 1 per cent, carbonate of soda. Questions concerning this and certain of the milk substitute cases were asked in the House of Commons, and there is little doubt that the pioneer work carried out in Leeds contributed in no small measure to the introduction of the Food Substitutes (Control) Order, which became effective in November, 1941. Apart from spurious egg substitutes there were also examined a few products purporting to contain egg, but in which this con¬ stituent formed a negligible proportion of the whole. Other Substitutes.—These were described as onion powder, powdered onions, and sweetening powder. All were unsatis¬ factory.