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42 ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF
2. The positions in which the custards are placed to cool,
close to dirty pans, near refuse-bins, in dirty yards or in kitchens,
small, ill-ventilated, and far from clean, with a number of young
children constantly about, render it liable to contamination of all
kinds, and is surely an unfitting preparation for a food intended
for human consumption. The bouses are not suitable for the
manufacture of these custards. They have seldom proper accommodation
for storing the custards ; the number of people inhabiting
the houses is often excessive, and their habits far from clean.
Ice-cream vendors informed Dr. Wilkinson that if the custard is
covered over while standing to cool it sours. At the same time,
it might be possible, by making a gauze covering to the custardpans,
to protect the custard to some extent.
3. Dirty ice in the freezing-pails (during freezing). When
the inner vessel containing the custard is moved there is a possibility
of some of the ice-water getting into the custard; possibly
organisms may at times enter the custard-cans from this source.
4. During delivery to the customer, dust from the air and
dirty washing-water.
The street-barrow ices are specially liable to receive organisms
from dust, such as B. subtilis and B. coli communis. The washing-
water may also be a fruitful source of contamination. The customer
licks the ice out of a glass, the glass is washed and
dried on a not over-clean towel, and filled again for the next
customer. During these proceedings we have the possibility of
organisms introduced on to the glass by one customer, being
transferred to the water, towel and ice-pail, and thus, a supply
of organisms is obtained for other customers.
It must be evident from the above report that proper control
over this industry is urgently required. Custard-ices so contaminated
are unfit for food ; but from the time required to examine
them, it is difficult under the " Public Health Act " to proceed
against the person selling them. It would be better to insist that
this, as well as other foods, should be prepared under conditions
which would reduce the risk of contamination to a minimum,
while for ordinary ice-creams, sterilised milk and cream might be
used.