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designations. Licence holders are no longer required to allow
samples of milk to be taken free and there are alterations with
regard to the prescribed tests.
The Food Hygiene (General) Regulations, I960.—These regulations
which came into force on 1st October of the current year,
amended and consolidated the Food Hygiene Regulations, 19551957.
and bring within their scope food businesses carried on from
home-going ships and moored vessels.
The Food Hygiene (Docks, Carriers, etc.) Regulations, 1960.—
Operative from 1st November, 1960, these regulations follow the
pattern of the Food Hygiene (General) Regulations, 1960, and
prescribed requirements to secure the hygienic handling of food
at docks, warehouses, cold stores, carriers' premises, etc., with
adaptations to take account of the circumstances in which food is
handled at those places.
The Skimmed Milk with Non-Milk Fat Regulations, 1960.—
These regulations control the labelling and advertising of the "specified
foods" that is "skimmed milk with non-milk fat" and the same
product in condensed or dried form, these products being defined
in the regulations by reference to their appearance and constituents.
These regulations come into operation on 19th September, 1961.
Other Statutory Instruments and Circulars were published
during the year in respect of arsenic in food, additions to the Poisons
List Order, and, with regard to imported food, "official certificates"
in respect of Eritrea, Gibraltar and Italy were approved.
Milk
Milk consists of approximately 87% of water holding proteins,
sugar and certain salts in solution, has an average specific gravity
of 1.032 and has suspended in it finely divided globules of fat to
which it owes its whiteness. Its chemical composition is subject to
variation on a number of counts such as the season and time of
milking, the breed of cow, type of feeding, etc. 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 is one which is
sampled extensively during the year.
Milk Supply.—The supply of milk continues to be under the
direction of the Milk Marketing Board, who, in this connection, act
as agents to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The
greater proportion of the milk which enters the Borough originates
from the Home Counties and the remainder which is of a higher fat
content, arrives from Devon and the Channel Islands.