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crowded, routine cleansing becomes more difficult, and is in some cases
neglected. Further, the improvement in the lay-out, lighting and
appearance of the serving section of the shop is often carried out at the
expense of the food storage space, the area of which is thereby sometimes
reduced below reasonable requirements.
With regard to self-service shops, whose number is increasing, these
have the advantage from the hygienic point of view that the shelves
which are open to public inspection require frequent cleansing, rearranging
and restocking, and the shop-keeper is normally more than
careful to ensure that no old stock remains on the shelves. Unfortunately
the self-service shop is usually larger on the public side than the ordinary
grocer's shop, and the larger public space is frequently attained at the
expense of the storage area.
The period up to the end of 1957 was sufficient to suggest that certain
wording in the Regulations is ambiguous, and cases have already occurred
in the Courts which have appeared to indicate that the Regulations do
not say what they were intended to convey.
The principal difficulty to be overcome in obtaining a really clean food
supply is now the appreciation of a sufficiently high standard of cleanliness
in the persons engaged in the food trade. Most people recognise
dirt where they can see it, very many do not credit its existence, particularly
in bacterial form, when it is not visible and cannot be detected by the
normal senses.