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34
As far as I am aware no local authority now supports a
clean food guild, and all those that I have been able to get in
touch with who previously did have guilds have said very
forcibly that they would not do so again.
Now that the Food Hygiene Regulations are in force, and
set a standard not only for premises but for the manner in
which the premises can be used, and also a standard for the
behaviour of the staff (washing hands, clean clothes, etc.) it
would seem that the setting up of a clean food guild would be a
retrograde step in which the recognised minimum standards might
well come to be regarded as a satisfactory maximum.
The question of clean food guilds came before the
Committee mainly on the question of the use of disposable paper
sacks for the removal of refuse. It is obviously undesirable
for an uncovered dustbin to be carried through food premises in
order to be emptied. A dustman will always (and perhaps not
unreasonably) remove the lid before lifting and carrying the
bin, and the use of a paper sack is a much more satisfactory
method of removal.
It must be pointed out however that if a paper sack is
overfilled, as may well happen at times, its advantage over an
ordinary dustbin largely disappears. Moreover for the
storage of refuse within a food premises pending its removal a
metal or rigid plastic bin with a well fitting cover is much
better than a paper sack. Even where it is possible to keep
the refuse in a rear yard pending disposal, a metal or plastic
bin is better unless the paper sack can reasonably be protected
from the worst of the weather. Again, if waste food is to be
used for animal feeding an ordinary bin is preferable.
It is not possible to lay down any rigid rules for the use
of paper bags as against ordinary bins to suit all conditions.
A restaurant must obviously have a waste food receptacle within
the kitchen and a fishmonger within the shop Other premises
such as a grocers might well have a waste receptacle outside,
but it would not be practicable to replace all bins by paper
sacks. Indeed the Food Hygiene Regulations specify that metal
bins must be used in certain circumstances to keep certain foods
apart (e.g. certain offals, unskinned game and unplucked
poultry from meat and other food which has been prepared).
In summary it is most undesirable for uncovered refuse to
be taken through food premises for disposal. The real remedy
is to ensure that refuse can be disposed of at the rear of the
premises. If this is not possible the use of paper sacks