Final report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt. 1, Final report.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Arsenical Poisoning
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Final report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt. 1, Final report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    articles of food, and which might properly be referred to such a body as is contemplated in the Report. These matters are intended to be dealt with under Section 3 of the 1875 Act, which is concerned with the adulteration of articles of food with substances injurious to health. The substances so added are not, as a rule, naturally present in food, and are not of the nature of food, é.g.. mineral colouring matters, so-called aniline dyes, antiseptics, &e. The Departmental Committee appointed by the Local Government Board in 1899, to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food, were of opinion that a body such as is contemplated would prove most useful with regard to the subject of food preservatives and colouring matters in food. This: body in their opinion “should not be too large, but should embrace at least a chemist, a bacteriologist, a pharmacologist, a physician, a physiologist, and a representative of the Public Health Service.” A body so constituted would, of course, be perfectly competent to deal with such questions as the permissible limit of arsenic in food, and whether the use of preservatives and colouring matters in food is injurious to health ; but it is open to doubt whether it would be equally competent to deal with such questions as what proportion of husk in ground pepper, or what proportion of starch-glucose in golden syrup, or what proportion of beef-stearin in lard, shall raise a presumption that these articles are not of the nature, substance, and quality demanded by the purchaser. , T... da DHOR RE.
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