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29
When mould was found in a meat pie the Council decided to
prosecute the retailer and a fine of £15 was imposed.
A split pin was found in a bakewell tart and after considering the
circumstances the Council expressed its concern to the manufacturers.
Two complaints were received concerning foreign matter in milk
bottles. As the bottling establishments were outside this Council's
area the complaints were referred to neighbouring authorities and in one
case the dairy was prosecuted and a fine of £3 was imposed.
Sweet corn labelled "Peaches", gills in dressed crab, worm in
fish fingers and mould on bacon were among other complaints investigated
during the year.
ICE CREAM
Forty-six samples were submitted to the methylene blue test and
all were placed in grade I. The methylene blue test does not provide
a guarantee of safety but it does serve as a simple and practical method
of grading ice-cream according to its degree of bacterial cleanliness and
samples which consistently fail to reach grades I or II give reasonable
grounds to indicate defects in manufacture or handling requiring further
investigation. The certificate giving the results of testing has the
following note appended:
"Owing to the numerous factors governing the hygienic quality
of ice-cream it is unwise to pay too much attention to the
bacteriological re stilts of any single sample. Judgement should
be based rather on a series of samples. It is suggested over a
six monthly period 50 per cent of vendors samples should fall into
grade I, 80 per cent into grades I or II, not more than 20 per cent
into grade III and none into grade IV".