§ Colonel DAYasked the Minister or Health the number of prosecutions that have been instituted by his Department or by the inspectors under his control against persons for the adulteration of food for the 12 months ended to the last convenient date?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINProsecutions in respect of the adulteration of food are not instituted by my Department, but by local authorities and their officers. I am not in a position to state the total number of prosecutions undertaken in any period, but the reports which are sent to my Department show that the number of samples of food taken in England and Wales during the 12 months ending the 31st December, 1926, was 120,617, and that 7,044 of these (or 5.8 per cent.) were found to be adulterated.