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80
SECTION E
Inspection of Food and Supervision of Food Premises
From 1st January of this year the systematic inspection of
food and premises where food is handled was carried out for the first
time under the new Food and Drugs Act, 1955, and the Food Hygiene
Regulations, 1955, which exercise control over the hygienic handling,
etc., of food, became fully operative from 1st July of the current
year. Both the Act and the Regulations were reviewed in the
Report for 1955.
Legislation.—Little fresh legislation was introduced during the year,
the most important being the Flour (Composition) Regulations, 1956,
which states that all flour, other than 100 per cent. extraction flour
must contain not less than 235 nor more than 390 milligrams of
creta praeparata per 100 grams, and all flour must contain the
undermentioned nutrients in amounts not less than stated :—
Iron Not less than 1.65 mgm. per 100 gms of flour
Vitamin B1 „ „ „ 0.24 mgm. „ „ „ „ ,,
Nicotinic acid,
or Nicotinamide „ „ „ 1.60 mgm. „ „ „ „ ,,
Other Statutory Instruments introduced during 1956 included
Regulations amending the amounts of metals to be contained in
Tomato Ketchup and Curry Powder, and the Milk and Dairies
(Channel Islands and South Devon Milk) Regulations, 1956, which
fix at 4 per cent, by weight, the fat content of milk sold as Channel
Island, Jersey, Guernsey or South Devon milk. The Food Hygiene
(Amendment) (No. 1) Regulations, 1956, exempts the giving out of
shrimps, prawns and onions from the provisions of regulation 7,
para. (1) of the 1955 Regulations until 1st January, 1957.
Milk
Milk consists of approximately 87% of water holding proteins,
sugar and certain salts in solution and having suspended in it finely
divided globules of fat to which the milk owes its whiteness. Milk,
as drawn aseptically from a healthy cow, contains few bacteria
but as it forms an excellent medium for the growth of organisms
every precaution should be taken to prevent its contamination.
It is, therefore, to be expected that this commodity formed the
largest class of food sampled during the year.