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Addition of Colouring Matter, etc., to Milk.— Section 4 of the Milk and Dairies (Amendment
Act, 1922, prohibits the addition of any colouring matter or water, or reconstituted milk, or
skimmed or separated milk, to milk intended for sale. This Section enables the Council to dea
with cases in which additions are made for fraudulent purposes, but in which difficulty is
experienced in proving that the mixture is sold as milk.
Not one of the three hundred and forty-six samples of milk analysed in 1924 was found to
contain colouring matter.
Milk Utensils in Infected Houses.—The practice commenced in 1922 of sending information to
milk retailers supplying milk to houses in which cases of infectious disease are being nursed at
home was continued throughout the year, and from the date of the receipt of my notification to the
date of a later communication stating that the house is free from infection, no milk vessel belonging
to the dealer has been allowed to enter the home in question.
The procedure seems to meet with general favour and the dealers invariably express their
thanks for the information received.
Ice Cream.—At the end of the year 163 premises were shown in the Register of places within
the Borough where ice cream is prepared or sold, twenty-seven having been removed during the year.
The trade is mainly regulated under the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1902,
which makes it an offence to store ice cream in a sleeping room or in any shed or room in which
there is an inlet to a drain. Vendors of ice cream are also required to notify the occurrence of
infectious disease among their employees or persons living on their premises. The Act further
provides that every itinerant vendor shall exhibit on his barrow the name and address of the person
from whom the ice cream has been obtained. Two hundred and eighty-three visits to ice cream
premises have been made by the inspectors during the year.
The powers under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and the London County Council
(General Powers) Act, 1902 and 1908, enable the Council to exercise efficient control where the
vendors and premises are known, but, inasmuch as ice cream may be made under unsatisfactory
conditions on premises other than those where it is stored, a system of compulsory registration of
premises where the commodity is manufactured, stored or sold and of itinerant vendors of ice cream,
should be introduced.
In addition, byelaws are needed to secure the sale of ice cream from street barrows being
conducted under clean conditions.
Bakehouses.—There are 90 bakehouses in the Borough, and of this number 67 are underground.
As a result of 273 inspections, which were made during the year, 7 notices were served
for the cleansing of walls and ceilings.
Slaughter Houses.—These are licensed annually by the County Council in the month of
October. At the beginning of the year there were six slaughter houses in the Borough, but at the
October meeting licenses were renewed in respect of five only. This was due to the fact that the
proprietor of the sixth slaughterhouse had died earlier in the year and an application for
re-licensing was not submitted in this case. The five slaughter houses now licensed are kept in a
cleanly condition, and from a structural point of view are not open to objection. During the year
a considerable number of pigs were killed in the slaughter house in Walmer Road, and the license
was renewed by the London County Council in October on condition that the premises be
not used for the purpose of slaughtering on more than 20 Sundays in the year, that slaughtering
on Sundays be carried out in the forenoon only, that the licensee do inform the Council of the
Royal Borough of Kensington on the previous day when he intends to slaughter animals on a
Sunday, and that on week-days cattle be slaughtered only between the hours of 8 a.m. and
8 p.m. in the months of May, June, July, August and September, and between the hours of 8 a.m.
and 6 p.m. during the remainder of the year.
The slaughter house inspections for the year numbered 294.
Bye-laws prescribing humane slaughtering came into operation in London during the year and
approved methods have been adopted at each of the slaughter houses in the Borough.
Other Places Where Food is Prepared—In addition to the above-mentioned food
premises, places in the Borough where food is prepared for or exposed for sale are entered in a
Register under the date on which they were finally inspected and found to comply with the
requirements of the County Council (General Powers) Act, 1908. The following table shows the
number of such premises on the Register at the end of the years 1923 and 1924, together with the
number added to or removed from the Register during the twelve months to which the report
relates:—