410 Parliamentary Publications. 



tend to the disadvantage of small retailers who have no cold 

 storage, this is not a consideration which should stand in the 

 way of a much-needed reform. 



With regard to the use of colouring matters for dairy produce 

 the Committee state that in the butter trade, and still more 

 so in the cheese trade, artificial colouring has long been 

 established, and that they have not found that in the interest 

 of the consumer any interference is necessary with the 

 customs of the trade in this respect. 



But the same reason which is given for the prohibition of 

 preservatives in milk offered for sale, namely, the large quantity 

 thereof which may be consumed by an individual, appears to 

 the Committee to render it highly undesirable that any 

 colouring matter should be permitted in milk. There is this 

 further consideration, that milk is sold as an absolutely raw, 

 unmanufactured article, of which the purchaser is entitled 

 to be aware of the natural colour, and to draw his own 

 conclusions therefrom as to quality. 



In the case of margarine the Committee suggest that, 

 probably, the only means of protecting the public from 

 imposition would be to prohibit the introduction of any 

 colouring matter into margarine which shall cause it to 

 resemble butter. But as the margarine may be assumed to 

 be a perfectly wholesome article of diet, it did not fall within 

 the terms of their reference to make any recommendation 

 upon a practice which is not attended with risk to the public 

 health. 



The recommendations of the Committee are as follows : — 

 {a) That the use of formaldehyde or formalin, or prepara- 

 tions thereof, in food or drinks be absolutely prohibited and 

 that salicylic acid be not used in a greater proportion than 

 one grain per pint in liquid food, and one grain per pound in 

 solid food. Its presence in all cases to be declared. 



(b) That the use of any preservative or colouring matter 

 whatever in milk offered for sale in the United Kingdom be 

 constituted an offence under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. 



(c) That the only preservative which it shall be lawful to 

 use in cream be boric acid or mixtures of boric acid and borax, 

 and in amount not exceeding 0.25 per cent, expressed as 



