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34
Food and Drugs Act, 1955—Section 16
Under this Act no premises shall be used for:—
(a) the sale, or the manufacture for the purpose of sale, of ice cream, or storage of ice cream
intended for sale, or
(b) the preparation or manufacture of sausages, or potted, pressed, pickled or preserved food
intended for sale.
unless they are registered for that purpose by the local authority. Premises used wholly or mainly
as catering premises, or as a school or club are exempt from these requirements, and those used as a
theatre, cinematographic theatre, music hall or concert hall, are exempt from registration in respect
of the sale and storage of ice cream.
The number of premises registered with the City Council at the 31st December, 1967, is shown
in Table 26, page 76.
Unsound or Unsaleable Food—Disposal
Under Section 73 (1) of the Public Health Act, 1936 a local authority may undertake the removal
of trade refuse from premises within their district, and having so undertaken shall, at the request
of the occupier, remove such trade refuse. Westminster has entered into such an undertaking.
Schedule 11, Part II (7) of the Local Government Act, 1963 states that any person who has in
his possession or under his control any article of food which is unsound, unwholesome or unfit
for human consumption may, by notice to the local authority, specifying and identifying the article,
request its removal as if it were trade refuse.
During the year some 285 (321) tons of unsound or unsaleable foodstuffs were voluntarily
surrendered for disposal.
Food condemned or voluntarily surrendered to the Public Health Inspector is taken to the
Council's Central Depot at Gatliff Road and removed by barge for disposal by controlled tipping
at Pitsea.
Pesticides and Other Toxic Chemicals
Reference was made in the last Annual Report to the Council's participation in a scheme to
enable a systematic enquiry to be made through the medium of selective food sampling into the
extent of contamination of foodstuffs by toxic chemicals and particularly organochlorine pesticide
residues.
During the year a further 16 (19) samples were obtained and submitted for examination. The
results obtained are shewn in Table 28, page 77.
Export Certificates
Applications for Certificates of Export received in the Health Department during the year in
respect of foodstuffs to be despatched abroad numbered 52 (20).
A Food Inspector inspects the consignment intended for export and where necessary submits
a representative sample to the Public Analyst or Public Health Laboratory, to ascertain the fitness
of the product concerned, before issuing the certificate.
Poultry Processing Premises
There are no poultry processing premises in Westminster.
Slaughter of Animals
There are no slaughterhouses in Westminster, but in the grounds of the Zoological Society of
London for many years there has been a knacker's yard, licensed by the Council, where slaughtering
takes place for animal feeding purposes. The necessary licences for this and for the slaughterman
who works there were renewed during the year.
Applications are also received from time to time from the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals for Slaughterman's licences to be issued to probationary inspectors. Fifteen (42)
such licences were issued during the year, and they are necessary in order that the inspectors
concerned can commence training as slaughtermen and receive from the Society practical training
and instruction in modern methods of humane slaughter.