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The Commissioner of Public Health by virtue of the powers invested in him under “The Health Acts, 1900 to 1922” has made Regulations dealing with the Manufacture, Storage, Handling, Sale, etc., of Food and Drugs and other closely allied articles. Standards of purity and composition are laid down and most of the articles mentioned are defined. The Regulations have been approved by His Excellency the Governor and will come into operation on 1st May, 1929. These Regulations are very comprehensive, and wide in their scope, and in great contrast to the state of affairs in Great Britain where it would be necessary to search innumerable Departmental Orders, Factory Acts, Bye‐laws, etc., to find any regulations which approach these in their objects or entirety. Owing to absence of similar consolidation many of our regulations are overlooked or neglected. In only a few instances can it be said that we have specific regulations superior to these under review.—The first section contains General Regulations dealing mainly with the labelling of articles. They require that very full information should be stated as to the name and composition of the substance, the name and address of the manufacturer, importer or dealer, and the place of manufacture or origin. These particulars have to be printed on the label in plain letters of special size. The section also deals with the permissible use of specific preservatives and colouring matters, the character and quality of the containers, the allowable limits of poisonous metals, the declaration of net weights and measures, and stipulates the kinds of boiler compositions and vermin exterminators which may be used in food factories. The next section contains Specific Regulations covering all the common articles of Food, Beverages, Drugs, and commonly used substances like Methylated Spirit, Biological products (Anti‐toxins, Sera, Vaccines, etc.), Soap, Disinfectants and Colouring matters. The several articles are defined, whether natural or compounded, and if prepared, details of the methods of manufacture are given, also, in most cases, it is specified how the article concerned should be labelled. Many of these regulations and definitions are worthy of special mention, if only in comparison with the regulations, or want of similar regulations in this Country. To note just a few of the most important:—“Self‐raising flour” and “Baking Powder” must yield not less than forty‐five grains of carbon dioxide per pound, and ten per cent. by weight of carbon dioxide, respectively. “Corn‐flour” may be the starch powder derived from any variety of grain. “Infants' foods” must have statements on the label indicating the composition, source of ingredients and value in calories. “Dripping” and “Lard” must contain not more than two per cent. of free fatty acids, while so‐called “Edible Fats and Oils” must contain not more than one per cent. of free fatty acids. “Sausage meat” must contain not less than seventy‐five per cent. of meat. “Mar‐garine” must contain not less than one per cent. of starch, or, not less than five per cent. of sesame oil. “Milk” is described as the lacteal secretion of the cow. It must be clean and fresh, and must be obtained by completely emptying the udder of the healthy cow properly fed and kept, excluding that got during fifteen days immediately before, and ten days immediately following on parturition. It must contain not less than eight and five‐tenths parts per cent. of milk solids not fat, three and three‐tenths parts per cent. of milk fat, and not less than twelve parts per cent. of total solids; its freezing point must not be higher than 0.55°C., below zero as determined by the Winter method. It must not contain any pathogenic micro‐organisms. It must not contain more than one million micro‐organisms to the cubic centimetre from 1st of October to 31st of March, and not more than five hundred thousand micro‐organisms from 1st of April to 30th September. When subjected to the reductase test it must not completely decolourise the methylene blue in less than three hours. “Coffee” must contain not less than ten per cent. of fat. “Coffee essence” must contain not less than 0.5 per cent. of caffeine. “Coffee and chicory essence” must contain not less than 0.25 per cent. of caffeine. “Cocoa powder” must be free from added alkali. “Soluble cocoa” must not contain more than three per cent. of added alkali. “Chocolate” must contain not less than ten per cent. of fat‐free and alkali‐free cocoa. “Icecream” must contain not less than ten per cent. of milk fat. “Potable waters” must conform to certain bacteriological standards of purity. “Drugs” with certain exceptions, must conform to the standards of the British Pharmacopoeia and British Pharmaceutical Codex. “Soap” must contain not less than fifty‐nine per cent. of fatty acids. “Colouring matters.” A list of thirty‐one permitted colouring matters is given. The third section deals with the conditions under which food may be manufactured, stored, handled and sold. The state of the premises as regards construction, suitability and free‐dom from vermin. These regulations are similar to those contained in some of our Factory Acts and certain local Bye‐laws but appear to be more stringent.—Here again only a few of the more important points can be noted. Transportation of food must be conducted in specially constructed vehicles provided with adequate protection against contamination. No returned food must be resold. Exposed food must be protected against dust and insects. Printed paper must not be used for food wrapping. Dealers in second hand containers are compelled to thoroughly cleanse and sterilise them before re‐sale. The use of food containers for disinfectants or poisons is prohibited. Milk and dairy produce must not be handled by any person suffering from any infectious or contageous disease. Milk vessels must be constructed of suitable materials, be kept in good repair, be properly cleansed and of such a shape as to allow thorough cleansing and inspection. Milk vessels despatched to a retailer must be securely sealed. Any person delivering milk is prohibited from carrying water at the same time. No icecream which has become melted must be re‐frozen. Hotels, Boarding Houses, Restaurants, Refreshment Rooms, etc., must have proper and adequate accommodation for storage of foods and occupiers must take due precaution to prevent contamination. All utensils used must be kept in a clean condition and food must not be served out with the fingers. The occupier is also made responsible for the personal habits of the employees while handling food. Regulations are also made for the construction, maintenance and care of Bakehouses, Soda Fountains, Cold Stores, and Meat and Fish Shops. One section deals with the conduct of the business of a “chemist.” It would have been more suitable if the term “pharmacist” had been used here. Finally it is stated that the fees to be paid for analysis are, twenty‐one shillings for chemical analysis, and forty‐two shillings for bacteriological analysis, a more generous rate of pay than that mentioned in a recent Act passed in this Country. Any person contravening any of these Regulations is liable to a penalty of twenty pounds.

This paper is aimed at food science or biology students planning a practical independent study into the antimicrobial properties of spices and academic staff wishing to develop a straightforward and reproducible practical activity.

Disc‐diffusion assays are used to investigate the antimicrobial activity of cinnamon and cloves against two bacteria Escherichia coli B and staphylococcus albus and a yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Aqueous and alcoholic extracts of the spices and alcoholic extracts of their essential oils are examined. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of alcoholic extracts of both spices and oils are also determined.

Both spices demonstrated microbial inhibitory effects; alcoholic extracts had greater activity than aqueous extracts. Additionally, essential oils had greater activity than the spices. Minimum inhibitory concentrations were smaller with the oils than with the spices.

Although the research for this paper involved just two spices, such is the size of the plant kingdom that there are wide opportunities for further investigations using this procedure.

Disc‐assays were found to be a simple, cheap and reproducible practical method. For this paper, micro‐organisms available for educational purposes were used; however, other organisms could be investigated depending upon available microbiological expertise and facilities.

The results demonstrate that the antimicrobial effects of spices and particularly their essential oils can be examined using disc‐diffusion assay. The method provides many opportunities for student investigation.

Petroleum hydrocarbons are naturally occurring flammable fossil fuels used as conventional energy sources. It has carcinogenic, mutagenic properties and is considered a hazardous pollutant. Soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons adversely affects the properties of soil. This paper aim to remove pollutants from the environment is an urgent need of the hour to maintain the proper functioning of soil ecosystems.

The ability of micro-organisms to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons makes it possible to use these microorganisms to clean the environment from petroleum pollution. For preparing this review, research papers and review articles related to petroleum hydrocarbons degradation by micro-organisms were collected from journals and various search engines.

Various physical and chemical methods are used for remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminants. However, these methods have several disadvantages. This paper will discuss a novel understanding of petroleum hydrocarbons degradation and how micro-organisms help in petroleum-contaminated soil restoration. Bioremediation is recognized as the most environment-friendly technique for remediation. The research studies demonstrated that bacterial consortium have high biodegradation rate of petroleum hydrocarbons ranging from 83% to 89%.

Proper management of petroleum hydrocarbons pollutants from the environment is necessary because of their toxicity effects on human and environmental health.

This paper discussed novel mechanisms adopted by bacteria for biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation pathways, genes and enzymes involved in petroleum hydrocarbons biodegradation.

The use as food, or as an ingredient of food, of protein products being developed from new and unconventional sources, including textured vegetable protein and protein products based on micro‐organisms, is discussed in the Food Standards Committee's Report on Novel Protein Foods. It is the first official report in this field covering products already in use as human food and those which may come into such use in the future.

Under the auspices of the “People's League of Health,” Professor F. E. Dixon, F.R.S., delivered an address before the Medical Society of London on March 25th. It was, he said, obvious that organic foodstuffs were liable to bacterial decomposition. Something must be done to prevent certain foodstuffs from putrefying. The methods were sterilisation, destroying the micro‐organisms by heat or by preventing their growth by chemical substances. None of the chemical substances prevented the growth of the micro‐organisms which caused food poisoning. Putrefaction, in a sense, was the safety‐valve which indicated the condition of the food, and if they used preservatives they allowed the malignant organisms to grow. In Great Britain they had a Committee which sat in 1901, but nothing was done until 1912, when the Ministry forbade the use of preservatives in milk. France, Germany, the United States, and Sweden had absolutely forbidden the use of boric acid except in certain cases, and all countries had forbidden sulphites in meat. These, if sprayed on meat, masked incipient putrefaction and brought back the bright red colour. The United States allowed the use of benzoic acid, under certain conditions which had to be reported.

The Professor of Bacteriology at the Kansas Agricultural Experimental station gives here a survey of the modes of action of specified bacteria in causing materials breakdown, with particular reference to pipe coatings, and also covers the test procedures used and the reasons for their selection. The article contains the main substance of a paper published recently by Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas; the latter is closely associated with large‐scale projects in the investigation of underground corrosion.

This paper aims to extract colour from micro-organisms (as a source of natural pigments) using agro-industrial substrates to replace synthetic media by solid state fermentation. Nature is filled with colours. Due to health and environmental consciousness among people, use of synthetic colour has declined, and so the need to develop colour from cheap and easily available natural sources (plants, animals, micro-organisms and algae) using a cost-effective technique with higher yield and rapid growth. Monascus purpureus colour is a potent source of compounds (Dimerumic acid, Monacolin-k and -aminobutyric acid) having antimutagenic, antimicrobial and antiobesity, which helps in combating diseases.

Response surface methodology was used to optimise the biopigments extraction from Monascus purpureus using solid state fermentation.

The best optimised conditions for biopigments production using Monascus purpureus MTCC 369 were pH 5.4 at 32°C for 8 days 9 hours (8.9 days) from sweet potato peel and pea pod powder, 7.8 (w/w) and 3.9 per cent (w/w), respectively, which gave a final yield of 21 CVU/g. The model F-value of 69.18 and high value of adjusted determination coefficient 96.00 per cent implies high level of significance of the fitted model.

Extracted colour can be used in beverages, confectionery and pharmaceutical industries.

Colour produced using Monascus purpureus MTCC 369 is a natural source. As consumers are reluctant to use synthetic colour because of the undesirable allergic reactions caused by them, so a biopigment produced is natural colouring compound with wide application in food sector.

Selected sources of carbon and nitrogen were not used earlier by any researcher to extract biopigment from Monascus purpureus MTCC 369.

A new non-woven material is developed by using chitosan blending fibers via a spun-lacing method, which can be used as the inner layer of baby diapers for providing good permeability, water transmission, insulation, antibiotic protection and anti-odor functions. In the trial production process, the right blending ratios of chitosan, lyocell and bicomponent fibers of 45:45:10 are chosen by experiments. Then, through a close coordination of blending, carding and spun-lacing processes, the best production parameters are filtered out. The new non-woven material is thus made uniform with many oval holes that have a thickness of 0.5 mm. Tests show permeability and absorbency properties of the non-woven material are 212.26% and 121.07% respectively higher than those of ordinary materials (through-air bonding and calendar bonding) used in present baby diapers, and its strength is just proper enough for diaper materials. Moreover, the new non-woven material is also inherently antimicrobial, with a micro-organism resistance to both staphylococcus aureus and epiphytes that is above 95%, whereas in comparison, the ordinary material falls below 70%.

Covers the quantitative and qualitative aspects of micro‐organisms present in fish and the factors which affect sea food quality. Several methods can be employed to counter deterioration ‐ low temperature, storage, dehydration, canning, modified atmosphere, packaging, irradiation and chemical or biological preservatives.

In 1993, the Single European Market will become reality. For consumers and producers, economic advantages can be expected. However, concern has been expressed as to the possible negative effects on food quality. After a brief review of EC food legislation, outlines activities in the dairy field which may contribute to a high quality standard of dairy products. These are among other things related to drinking milk (protein content, heat load), fermented milk (characteristic micro‐organisms), cheese (raw milk cheeses, cheeses with specific characteristics) and butter (butter definition, criteria for first quality butter, control of butterfat purity). In a final chapter discusses the future role of products obtained from genetically manipulated micro‐organisms in the dairy sector.