[Report 1964] / County Analyst, Lancashire County Council.

  • Lancashire (England). County Council.
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1964] / County Analyst, Lancashire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/160 (page 2)
    The number of Food and Drugs samples (excluding appeal-to-cow samples) submitted by the County Sampling Officers during the year 1964 was 7,766 as against 8,243 during the previous year and 8,784 in the year 1962 ; the rate of samples per 1,000 of the population was 5*41 in the year under review, 5-39 in 1963 and 5-86 in 1962. The number of County Food and Drugs samples has, therefore, been maintained well above the level reached in 1947 (6,819). Prior to 1947, the highest figure was 5,263 in the year 1933. During the year the number of samples found to be adulterated or unsatisfactory was 562 ; this corresponds to an adulteration rate of 7-2 per cent., as against 5*8 per cent, in the year 1963, and 3-8 per cent, in the year 1962. Table 4 gives the percentage adulteration for the last 10 years and it will be seen that the figure for the year under review is the highest in the table, although there has been an appreciable drop over that period compared with the years 1941 to 1948 when the adulteration rate varied from 9-3 to 5-7 per cent. Viewed in the light of the last mentioned figures the adulteration rate for the year 1964 cannot be regarded as unsatisfactory although it is higher than in the years immediately preceding the war when the percentage adulteration varied from 2-6 to 4-2. The rise in adulteration rate during the year under review compared with the corresponding figures in the years 1963 and 1962 is mainly due to the increased testing of samples of milk and Channel Islands milk for the presence of antibiotics. In addition to Food and Drugs samples the County Sampling Officers submitted 1,112 samples of heat-treated milk for examination by the Phosphatase test, the Half-hour Methylene Blue test or by the Turbidity test as against 1,505 samples submitted in the previous year. Of these, three failed to pass the Phosphatase test and six samples failed to pass the statutory Methylene Blue test. None of these unsatisfactory samples were taken at pasteurising plants. The corresponding figures for the year 1963, being three and 12 respectively. All the 93 (91 from 1st April) County Districts comprising the County Food and Drugs Area during 1964 are Specified Areas in which only designated milks may be sold. In view of the fact that it is the duty of the Food and Drugs Authority to enforce the provisions of Section 37 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, it follows that samples of designated milks are being taken by County Sampling Officers for submission to the County Laboratory for examination by the statutory Phosphatase, Half-hour Methylene Blue or Turbidity tests. As usual nearly two-thirds of the Food and Drugs samples sub¬ mitted by the County Sampling Officers consisted of samples of milk. Of 4,268 milk samples, 319 were found to be adulterated which represents