152 THE ANALYST. LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD REPORTS. On Certain Imported Meat Foods of Questionable Wholesomeness. (Reports of Inspector of Foods, No. 3 and 4,1908).-The data which are embodied in Report No. 3 relate to imported boneless scrap-meat, imported pork (in regard to tuberculosis), and imported tripe, tongues, and kidneys, which are heavily dosed wit11 boron and other preservatives. I t is considered that the unchecked admission of boneless scrap-meat into the United Kingdom constitutes a definite risk to health, and as the volume of trade in this commodity is small, prohibition of its importation would cause but little interference with trade. Tripe, tongues, and kidneys are some- times imported in strong solutions of :preservatives, and the meats take up large quantities of the preservatives from the solutions.Samples have been met with containing up to 2.18 per cent. of boric acid. I t is therefore considered desirable for the Board, under the Public Health (Regulations as to Food) Act, 1907, to prevent the introduction from abroad of tongues, tripe, and kidneys, which arrive in receptacles containing any preparations consisting of or comprising boric acid, borax or other borates, sulphurous acid or sulphites. To these may be added preparations of formaldehyde, benzoic acid or benzoates, salicylic acid or salicylates, or fluorides. Report No. 4 deals with the circumstances attending the preparation and sale of tripe and its importation from abroad, The conditions in London and Lancashire appear to be generally wholesome and cleanly.The consumption of imported tripe lnvolves a risk to health from the preservative compounds present, and there is the further danger that decomposition may have taken place before the sense of smell can detect it. w. P. s. The Preparation and Sale of Vinegar in Relation to the Administration of the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act. J. M. Hamill. (Reports of Inspector of Foods, No. 5, 1908.)-A description is given of the general methods of preparing brewed and artificial vinegars, together with typical analyses (cf. ANALYST, 1891, 16, 83; 1894, 19, 15, 26), and it is stated on the authority of information supplied by different firms that the cost of raw materials is about the same (twopence per gallon for a vinegar of 5 per cent. strength), though the greater cost of manufacturing brewed vinegar brings the final costs to about fivepence and threepence per gallon respectively.The attempts made by the London and County Vinegar Brewers’ Association to agree upon a definition and fix a standard for malt vinegar have not been successful, and the minimum for the specific gravity (viz., 1.017 to 1.021 for a, vinegar containing 5-17 per cent. of acetic acid) proposed by the Association in 1907 is here adversely criticised, as is also the provision of official definitions. Reference is also made to the question of the supervision of vinegar factories, which is favoured by many brewers. It is recommended that genuine vinegar should contain a t least 4 per cent. of acetic acid, and that artificial vinegar should not be sold as “ vinegar ” unless some word be added to make the nature of the substance apparent.The addition of sulphuric acid must be regarded as an adulteration, and the forma- tion of Prussian blue in a vinegar which has been clarified by mean8 of potassiumTHE ANALYST. 153 ferrocyanide must be looked upon with suspicion. This last recommendation is based upon the results of experiments made by Dr. A. Harden, from which it appears that an acid solution of potaseium ferrocyanide is slowly oxidised, with the formation of Prussian blue and hydrocyanic acid : 7H,Fe(CN), i- O,= 24HCN + 2H,O + Fe7(CN),,. This formation of Prussian blue also took place in vinegar to which had been added the proportion of potassium ferrocyanide ordinarily used in the trade for clarification. On boiling the clear filtrate from the Prussian blue with magnesium chloride in neutral solution, no hydrocyanic acid could be detected, this being apparently due to a combination of that acid with some other constituent of the vinegar, possibly the aldehyde. But the hydrocyanic acid could be set free to a large extent by boiling the vinegar, and only disappeared very gradually on keeping. No opinion is offered as to the toxicity OE vinegar thus treated. C. A. M.