The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-11 00:00:00

ADULTERATION OF FOOD.

A circular just issued by Messrs. Joseph Travers
and Sons contains the following letter from Dr.
Hassan on the precautions to be taken by trades-
men to avoid offences against the recent Act for
preventing the adulteration of articles of food or
drink :

" The Adulteration of Food and Drink Bill hav-
ing at length become iaw' it behoves manufacturers
and traders to consider how best to secure them-
selves under its provisions,

" By the Act it is rendered illegal—
" 1. To sell any article of food or drink with
which, to the knowledge of the seller, any ingre-
dient or material injurious to health has been
mixed.
" 2. To sell as pure or unadulterated any article
of food or drink which is adulterated or not pure.
" The punishment for the first offence consists
in the infliction of a fine not exceeding £5, while
for subsequent offences it is rendered lawful for the
justices to cause the offender's name, place of abode,
and offence to be made public.
" It is clear, therefore, that the sale of adulterated
articles of consumption, whether with or without
the knowledge of the seller, should be carefully
avoided. But how, it will be asked, is this object
to be accomplished P
" It is necessary, in the first place, that manu-
facturers should take steps to ascertain that all
articles sold or used by them are pure. This, inas-
much as most of their commodities are in the natu-
ral or raw state, it is not difficult in general to do,
but, where a doubt exists, the manufacturer might
secure himself by requiring from the vendor a gua-
rantee of purity.
" The retailer, on his part, might protect him-
self by the observance of the following simple pre-
cautions :

" Thus, he should never purchase manufactured
articles below the prime cost of the constituent in-
gredients.
" He should require, in all cases, a guarantee of
purity from the manufacturer, and, in order to fix
the responsibility still more upon him, I would
advise that the retailer should sell all manufactured
articles in packages bearing upon them the names
of the manufacturer. Further, I recommend that
a warranty of purity be printed upon the wrapper
of every parcel of manufactured goods sold. This
warranty world give the public confidence, because
it is not probable that any one would use it as a
cover for adulteration, and there is no doubt but
that all warranted articles would meet with a more
ready sale than those not warranted.
I see no objection to manufacturers and retailers
supporting their own warranty by the testimony,
in the form of certificates, of scientific persons of
ability and reputation.
" If the precautions here suggested were observed,
there would be but little fear of any proceedings
being taken against any manufacturers or retail
dealers under the provisions of the bill recently
enacted for preventing the adulteration of articles
of food and drink."

The same circular also contains a number of re-
ports from English counties regarding the prospects
of the harvest. There are six from the Northern
counties, 31 from the Midland, and 15 from the
Southern. They indicate, on the whole, that wheat
will be a full average and of fine quality, and also
that the crops of barley and oats will be satisfac-
tory, although the results in those cases are less
uniform than in that of wheat. In many districts
the yield of beans seem likely to be the best ever
known. With respect to beet and turnips the ac-
counts are less encouraging, and potatoes are de-
scribed from all parts to be extremely bad. Two
instances, however, are mentioned from Somerset of
farms which have been entirely free from the dis-
ease. In both cases a large quantity of lime was
laid on the land before planting. One of Messrs.
Travers's correspondents refers to the crop this sea-
son in Canada. "In a letter," he says, " from my
brother in Canada West the harvest there is stated
to be extraordinary ; the barns which usually con-
tain all the produce are already filled, while only
half is gathered in."