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a "sampling officer" are onerous in the extreme and bear no comparison
with the simple procedures of a generation ago when milk and butter were
the chief articles for examination, and any question of adulteration was
simply answered by the certificate of the public analyst. In 1948 cases
justifying legal proceedings numbered 29. Findings of the Courts in
favour of the City Council were 28. Section 13 of the Food and Drugs
Act lays down certain principles of hygiene to be observed in premises
where food is sold, prepared and stored for the purposes of sale. The
Act gives power for routine inspection. Two inspectors devote all their
time to this work and even so it will take some time before inspection
of all these very numerous premises can be overtaken. The defects and
deficiencies of the war years has already been mentioned, also the
difficulty of obtaining and retaining capable and efficient staff. Nevertheless
advice and persuasion, together with assistance in obtaining
licences for remedial work are exercising a favourable effect and legal
proceedings have been resorted to only in 13 cases when proprietors have
persistently failed to initiate necessary improvements. Any legal proceedings
which may involve the security and future position of the
individual responsible are authorised by the Public Health Committee,
and it is the invariable practice for the Chairman and the Medical Officer
of Health and Chief Inspector to pay a personal visit to premises in
relation to this statute or any other public health statute in like
circumstances.
Unsound Food.—During and since the war this has become a matter
of great importance. There is the universal tendency to conserve food.
Conservation may not be practicable nor can it be extended as much
as one would wish. The point is reached when food admits of no
reprieve. Accordingly, considerable quantities are surrendered as unfit,
or failing surrender are seized by the Food Inspectors for salvage for
animal feeding or processed for other purposes than food, or if too
decomposed, for destruction. Hardly a day passes that these procedures
are not being practised. It rarely happens that the person responsible is
either so unperceiving or so recalcitrant that food has to be seized under
his very nose, taken before a Magistrate and condemned. In such cases,
and there were only four in 1948, legal proceedings must be undertaken,
fines usually being substantial. Some 78 tons of food were dealt with by
surrender or seizure and disposed of and it can well be imagined that this
can be a time consuming job for the Food Inspectors.
Food Poisoning.—In 1948 there were 18 cases investigated, some four
of those could be classified as outbreaks because they concerned several
individuals taken ill at the same time. Fortunately, there was no case of
really serious illness, but the preliminary investigations carried out by
the Food Inspectors entailed immediate and full concentration on the
problem. Any suspected food left over must be submitted to expert
examination and analysis. Inquiries must be made of all food consumed
and scheduled and correlated with those persons affected and those