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16
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD.
Unsound Food.
Section 10 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, makes provision for the examination of food and the
seizure of unsound food. The food trader usually calls in the sanitary inspector when he suspects that he
has been supplied with unsound food, because he can obtain a credit note from the supplier if the sanitary
inspector condemns the consignment as unfit for human consumption.
It is disappointing to see so much unsound food when there are general shortages of food. Some of
this food could have been saved if more care were taken in its production. Examples of careless preparation
of food during the year are a rusty nail in bread, paper in bread, string in bread, glass in a small cake, and
dirt in bottles of milk. The public can help by informing the Public Health Department of the sale of any
unsound food.
The Middlesex County Council supervise food adulteration, and this is another example of duplication
of work. An intimate knowledge of food traders in the district helps in the discovery of both unsound and
adulterated food, and consequently these duties should be carried out by one authority.