London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of Westminster 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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39
Ice Cream (Heat Treatment, Etc.), Regulations, 1959.
The above Regulations came into operation on 27th April, 1959, and
consolidated and amended the Regulations of 1947-52.
Regulation 3 allows that water ices and ice lollies of more than a certain
acidity (whether or not they contain milk solids) need not be pasteurised
or sterilised before freezing. This is because it is most unlikely that
harmful germs will multiply in such acid mixtures. This Regulation
removes many difficulties which have arisen as a result of the many
varieties of ice lollies which are now manufactured.
Regulation 5' describes a method of sterilising ice-cream mix which
may be used instead of the methods of pasteurisation previously
prescribed. If a mix so sterilised is placed immediately and kept in a
sterile airtight container, it need not be kept (as must pasteurised mixes)
at a temperature below 45° F.
In a Circular which accompanied the Regulations, the Minister of
Health reaffirmed the recommended provisional grading for the examination
of ice cream, based on the methylene blue reduction test, but re-states
his decision that the standard should not be made statutory.
During the year, seventy-five samples of ice cream were submitted for examination by the methylene blue test, and were classified in the following provisional grades:—
| Grade | No. of Samples |
|---|---|
| 1 | 40, |
| 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 11 |
Food and Drugs Act, 1955—Section 26
Fourteen cases of food poisoning were notified during the year; four
of these related to one outbreak. Of the remainder the type of organism
responsible was indicated in five cases at the time of notification; and
in two of these cases other members of the respective families were found
to be involved.
The four persons notified who were concerned in one outbreak were
resident staff at a club. The illness was of short duration. Heat resistant
CI. welchii and Shig. sonnei were isolated from the patients but not from
samples of the suspected foods. The origin of this outbreak thus remained
undiscovered.
Two other outbreaks were investigated. In one no conclusion could
be reached, and in the other although the organism responsible was
isolated, it was not possible to be certain where it came from.
Three other single cases of salmonella typhimurium infection, not
formally notified, were investigated.