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140
SECTION E
Inspection of Food and Supervision of Food Premises
In 1959, the Government set up a committee to look into the
whole field of consumer protection and its report, now known as
the Molony Report, was presented to Parliament in 1962. It had
this to say about the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, "it is difficult
to conceive of more far-reaching provisions and powers than this
Act contains for the protection of the consumer against unfit or
deleterious food and drugs"—and with regard to arrangements
made for the enforcement of the Act "we are unable to envisage
a better system to handle the difficult and contentious issues which
inevitably arise".
On reflection, this is a most handsome compliment to be paid
officially to local authorities throughout the country, and it is
perhaps a remarkable co-incidence that this occurred at a time when
the Metropolitan Borough Councils were about to be dissolved in
the general re-organisation of London government.
Such striking confidence is the result of just over a century of
the implementation of legislation, for it was in 1860 that the first
Act of Parliament for the prevention of adulteration of food and
drink was passed, to be followed in 1875 by the Sale of Food and
Drugs Act, which made the appointment of public analysts
compulsory.
No one can deny that there have been many changes in the
nation's food habits, and the problems of control are now infinitely
more complex. Moreover, although deliberate adulteration has been
almost eliminated, other complications have arisen. Broadly these
can be directly attributable to the practical application of preventive
medicine and the resultant reduction in early deaths and mitigation
of disease. World population has expanded correspondingly and
the rate of this expansion is accelerating. It follows that there is
now an unremitting demand for more food production.
Previously, I have commented upon the fact that it has been
estimated that 1,500 million people throughout the world to-day
are suffering from malnutrition mainly from a protein deficient diet
which produces high infant mortality, stunting of physical growth
and mental development, and reduced resistance to infection and
disease. Moreover, I have indicated that world population is
rising rapidly, the rate of increase being in the order of some 65
millions per year, roughly the population of the United Kingdom.
Furthermore, when one remembers that although having the
highest productivity rate per acre in the world, agriculturally this