1906.] Work of the Government Laboratory. 307 



der are still siib jiidice, with the exception of a few cases which, 

 for various reasons — as, for example, where two or more samples 

 referred to the same importation — were not proceeded with. 



Margarine. — There is good reason to believe that a notable 

 amount of butter adulteration takes place in thi? country, the 

 substances employed for fraudulent addition to butter being, 

 amongst others, fats such as are imported in quantity for the 

 manufacture of confectionery, or as constituents of shop mar- 

 garine. The last-mentioned usages are, of course, quite legiti- 

 mate ; but there is no doubt that the fats in question are in some 

 cases fraudulently mixed with butter. 



To assist in tracing the destination of imported margarine, 

 and to guard against the diversion of this substance into im- 

 proper channels, the Legislature has enacted that all packages 

 of margarine imported into the United Kingdom shall be con- 

 spicuously marked " Margarine." During the past year a num- 

 ber of samples of the fats referred to have been submitted by the 

 Customs in order to ascertain whether, having regard to their 

 composition and properties, the fats in question came within the 

 legal definition of margarine, and ought, consequently, to be so 

 marked. Ninety-two such samples were examined, and in the 

 case of fifty-nine the article proved to be margarine. Proceed- 

 ings were instituted by the Customs Department to ensure that 

 the substances should be properly marked in future. Generally 

 these proceedings were successful in their object, but in the 

 case of two of the fats the magistrates decided that the sub- 

 stances were not, legally, margarine, apparently on the ground 

 that to come within the legal definition the article must so 

 closely simulate butter as to be indistinguishable therefrom 

 except by analysis. 



Cheese, — Of the eighty-eight samples of cheese examined, 

 forty-four were imported from Holland, twenty-two from Canada, 

 fifteen from the United States (two being indicated as Canadian 

 produce), five from France, and two from Belgium. Ten samples 

 were " skim-milk " cheese, containing in one instance only 

 3*3 per cent, of fat. All these ten samples came from Holland. 



Milk and Cream. — Samples of fresh and sterilized milk to the 

 number of fifty were taken during the year, as well as 131 

 samples of condensed milk and eighty-three samples of cream, 



B B 2 



