8 FOOD LAWS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



different types of drugs, were passed much later. The following is 

 a list of these laws now in force, with the dates of their passage: 



1. Coffee act, 1718. 



2. Coffee and tea act, 1724. 



3. Coffee and tea act, 1730. 



4. Tea act, 1776. 



5. Bread act, 1836. 



6. The sale of food and drugs act, 1875. 



7. The sale of food and drugs act, 1879. 



8. The margarine act, 1887. 



9. The sale of food and drugs act, 1899. 



10. Butter and margarine act, 1907. 



11. Fertilizer and feeding stuffs act, 1906. 



12. Public health (regulations as to food) act, 1907. 



13. Merchandise marks acts, 1887-1894. 



Nos. 6 to 10, inclusive, are known collectively as the sale of food 

 and drugs acts, 1875-1907. 



The most important of these acts now operative in England, Scot- 

 land, and Ireland, as far as foods and drugs are concerned, are the 

 sale of food and drugs act of 1875 and its amendments, the margarine 

 act of 1887, and its amended form as passed in the butter and mar- 

 garine act of 1907. 



DEFINITION OF TERMS. 



In the sale of food and drugs act, 1899, the term "food" is defined 

 as including " every article used for food or drink by man, other than 

 drugs or water, and any* article which ordinarily enters into or is 

 used in the composition or preparation of human food; and shall also 

 include flavoring matters and condiments." (The sale of food and 

 drugs act, 1899, sec. 26.) This definition of "food" is in some senses 

 more restricted than the definition in the United States food and 

 drugs act, which, by use of the phrase "or other animals," includes 

 those substances used as food by horses, swine, poultry, etc. In order 

 to cover this field in Great Britain and Ireland, the fertilizers and 

 feeding stuffs act of 1906 was enacted, and includes among the ani- 

 mals to which it applies cattle and poultry, "the term 'cattle/ for 

 the purpose of this act, meaning ' bulls, cows, oxen, heifers, calves, 

 sheep, goats, swine, and horses. M! (The fertilizers and feeding stuffs 

 act, 1906, sees. 1 and 10.) 



In the sale of food and drugs act, 1875, the term "food" was 

 defined so as to " include every article used for food or drink by man 

 other than drugs or water" (sec. 2). 1 In 1894 the English courts 



held that a baking powder composed of bicarbonate of soda, alum, 



. 



i Note the similarity in the definition of " food " in the United States law: " include all articles used 

 for food, drink, * * * by man * * *." 



