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84
Dr. F. Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health and Mr. H. Plinston,
Chief Public Health Inspector, report as follows
GENERAL
The trend for the number of applications for grants to modernise houses
and for Qualification Certificates to increase each year continued. Permission
was granted for the Inspectorate to be increased by one Senior and four
District Public Health Inspectors, but it proved impossible to recruit additional
inspectors.
The effect was that routine inspections of food premises, factories, etc.,
were not fully carried out, and without an adequate clerical staff to maintain
proper records it is not possible even to monitor the situation. Systematic
inspection is essential if a satisfactory standard of cleanliness is to be maintained
and food handlers are to be educated to appreciate the importance of personal
and food hygiene.
The necessity for constant vigilance in this and other areas of environmental
health cannot be disregarded without consequent risk to the public.
FOOD HYGIENE AND CONTROL OF SALE OF CERTAIN FOODS
All premises (from market stalls to large factories) where food is prepared,
stored or offered for sale are subject to inspection by Public Health Inspectors.
Advice is given on the types of construction, fittings and equipment that are
available and owners and staff are instructed in the best methods of handling
and rotating stocks. Particular emphasis is placed on the hygiene necessary
to prevent food poisoning.
Where premises do not meet the requirements of the Food Hygiene
(General) Regulations, 1960, owners are informed and, if necessary, court
proceedings are instituted.
24 Summonses were issued involving 4 defendants.
19 Convictions were obtained and fines totalling £71 were imposed
with £7 costs.
Food premises subject to these Regulations are shown below, grouped in
accordance with the trade principally carried on in them. With small shops
aspiring to become supermarkets, fish shops selling chickens and restaurants
providing containers for "take-away" food, categories cannot be otherwise
than arbitrary and in some cases single premises may appear under more than
one classification.