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72
SECTION E
Inspection of Food and Supervision of Food Premises
Systematic inspection of food and the supervision of food
premises continued at a high level during the current year which
was the first full year of operation of the new London County
Council Food Byelaws. These were based on the Ministry of Food's
Model Byelaws of J 949 and were made under Section 15 of the Food
and Drugs Act, 1938, " to secure the observance of sanitary and
cleanly conditions and practices in connection with the handling,
wrapping and delivery of food sold or intended for sale for human
consumption and in connection with the sale or exposure for sale in
the open air of food intended for human consumption."
A copy of these byelaws, which were operative from 3rd
November, 1952, was forwarded to the occupiers of all premises
concerned with the sale, storage for sale or handling of any food
commodity.
This year witnessed official support of the Clean Food Campaign
in the shape of an issue by the Ministry of Health of a coloured
poster indicating the various ways by which food can become
contaminated by the lack of ' hand hygiene.' In previous Reports
emphasis has been made on the fact that hygiene, especially with
regard to food, is now rapidly becoming more of an individual
responsibility and it is regrettable that it should be necessary to
reiterate this truism. All the efforts of the Food Inspectors can
be brought to nought by irresponsible persons apathetic to hygiene.
As an additional aid to the production, preparation and distribution
of clean food it had been hoped that by the beginning of
1954 the Food and Drugs (Amendment) Act would have been on the
Statute book but it is a great disappointment to report that the new
enactment has reached only the Bill stage.
Legislation
During this year legislation was confined to minor Statutory
Instruments dealing in the main with milk and milk products
and causing little variation in the administrative duties of the
Food section of the department.