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Sale of unfit and contaminated food in insanitary premises. Fined £126. Costs £20.
Placing food likely to be affected by street debris, and failing to protect food. Use of a delivery vehicle
on which no name and address was displayed. Fined £100 with £10 costs.
Further reference to legal proceedings will be found in the analysis in Table 25, page 81.
Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations 1959
Under these Regulations a local authority is required to keep a register of persons carrying on the trade
of distributor of milk at or from premises within their district whether or not such premises are occupied
by the distributor.
As at the 31st December 1971, 306 distributors of milk were registered.
Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963 (as amended)
The City Council is responsible for the granting on application of Dealers' Licences in relation to
pre-packed milks sold under the special designations "Untreated", "Ultra Heat Treated", "Pasteurised"
and/or "Sterilised".
A Dealer's Licence permits the sale of milk both outside as well as inside the area of the licensing
authority. The numbers of such licences current in the City at the end of 1971 were:-
Untreated 49
U Itra Heat Treated 119
Pasteurised 270
Sterilised 186
Milk Supplies — Brucella Abortus
Brucella abortus is the organism associated with contagious abortion in cattle and its transmission to
man occurs through drinking raw milk. As almost the entire supply of milk sold and consumed in
Westminster is heat-treated, no tests to determine the presence of this organism were carried out during the
year.
Food and Drugs Act 1955—Section 16
The number of premises registered with the City Council at 31 December 1971 is shown in Table 23,
page 80.
Food Poisoning
During the year information was received of 120 persons stated to be suffering from food poisoning, and
a summary of some of the individual outbreaks affecting more than one person is as follows:-
Five members of a sales promotion team staying at a local hotel suffered illness. Staff were also alleged
to have previously suffered similar symptoms, but had recovered by the time the matter was first brought
to the notice of this department. Food specimens, and swabs from the slicing machine used in the kitchen
were bacteriologically examined and staphylococcus aureus in small numbers was isolated from all the food
specimens except one. The origin of the infection could not be traced.
Information concerning eight persons who were ill following a meal at a restaurant was not received until
eight days later. Thirteen attended the function. Faecal specimens from those affected revealed that six
were excreting non-haemolytic C1. welchii type 4. No food remained from the suspected meal, but food
specimens from subsequent menus were bacteriologically examined with negative result. Temperature
control requirements were discussed with the management, and subsequent visits assured these were being
practised. No indication of the origin of the infection was found.