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with minimum facilities ; but there are many where the standard of hygiene is the standard of the
individual employee without special training or close supervision. These are days when independence
is claimed regardless of personal qualities, innate or acquired, entitling persons to independence ;
yet in the hygiene of the handling of food everything depends on the individual food handler, who
must either be instructed or, if incapable of absorbing instruction, must be trained to automatic
performance of the part he or she has to play.
In regard to accommodation, the kitchen and ancillary rooms must be adquate in size in relation
to the number of meals served at the busiest times. It is impossible to keep congested kitchens clean,
moreover, they are ill-ventilated, hot and humid, and these conditions are not only bad for the
health of the staff but lower their standards of hygiene. Equipment too must be adequate not only
for cooking but also for menial tasks, such as the preparation of vegetables and washing up. There
must be provision also for the personal ablutions of the staff. The old principle of one sink for all
purposes is highly unsatisfactory from a food hygiene point of view.
Since the war the proprietors of many catering establishments in the City have been anxious
not only to make good arrears of maintenance, but to improve and extend their kitchen premises,
and have sought the assistance of the Medical Officer of Health's Department in acquiring the
necessary building licences from the Ministry of Works. Even with a full appreciation of the many
demands on the limited supplies of labour and material, your Medical Officer has felt fully justified
in supporting most of these applications.
Your Inspectors have been able, by their practical commonsense outlook and tactful approach,
to obtain many improvements, some involving radical, almost dramatic changes, others small and
unseen by the public but nevertheless of considerable significance from the point of view of hygiene.
As examples of the former, in two cases the floors of basement kitchens have been excavated so
as to give adequate height, and in another case the owner decided to demolish and rebuild his restaurant,
with the result that a better class of customer is attracted and his business has improved. The
catering at one railway station has also been very markedly improved.
In my personal visits I have been pleased to note that your inspectors are well received by the
proprietors and staffs of catering establishments, and that their recommendations receive serious
attention. Indeed I have the impression that interest in and appreciation of the importance of food
hygiene is growing.
The arrangement under which, before granting a new catering licence, the Local Food Executive
Officer requires a certificate that the premises are suitable from a public health point of view has
worked smoothly and is of great value in the promotion of food hygiene.
On only four occasions was food-poisoning alleged to have resulted from meals actually eaten
in the City. All were mild, and were probably due to infection of food with staphylococcus pyogens
aureus, or to the presence of large numbers of non-pathogenic organisms.
The largest outbreak involved 30 policemen, who suffered from acute diarrhoea from 4 to 14
hours after a meal in their own canteen. Bacteriological examination of food revealed no pathogens,
but from a cleft between muscles in a large piece of cooked beef a profuse growth of coliform bacilli
was obtained. This beef had been cooked on a Sunday and remained in the larder, not the refrigerator,
in the month of June, till mid-day the next day (Monday). The opportunity was taken to obtain
necessary improvements in the canteen, and to emphasize the danger of overnight storage of prepared
food at room temperature in summer.
Another outbreak involved 12 persons in August. Vomiting and diarrhoea developed some
four hours after eating tinned brisket beef, from which a typical staphylococcus pyogens aureus
(coagulase positive) was isolated by the bacteriologist.
Another instance involved three or four persons who lunched regularly at a certain restaurant
and who complained on two occasions of food poisoning. From the many other customers there
were no complaints, no medical reports were available, and no satisfactory details of any kind. After
enquiries I came to the conclusion that these were not genuine cases of food poisoning. However,
a number of improvements were effected in the restaurant, particular attention being paid to ratproofing.
Having regard to the fact that thousands of meals are served daily in the City, it is remarkable
that so few cases of food-poisoning have occurred.
The complete investigation of cases infected in the City will always require the very closest
co-operation between the Medical Officers of Health of the districts in which the cases reside and your
Medical Officer.
In two instances reports were received of persons being taken ill after consuming food purchased
in the City and consumed at home.
One involving a husband and wife appeared to be typical staphylococcal food-poisoning, but
bacteriological examination of poloni sausage, sausage meat, egg substitute powder and pudding
mixture, revealed no pathogens and no gross contamination with non-pathogenic organisms.
The other involved five persons living in Ipswich who had eaten pressed beef which had been
purchased in the City. What remained of the consignment in the shop was sent for bacteriological
examination and staphylococcus aureus (coagulase positive type) was found. The pressed beef was
manufactured in a neighbouring Borough, the Medical Officer of Health of which had received
information of other cases and was carrying out a very thorough investigation. He discovered two
employees engaged in the preparation of the pressed beef to be infected and took the necessary steps
to eliminate the source of infection.
Rat Repression.
Rat repression has gone on actively throughout the year ; occupiers of premises have been
increasingly co-operative, and it appears that the rat-population in the City has been greatly reduced
in recent years.
A total of 3,340 premises were inspected including blocks of offices, riverside wharves, markets,
kitchens, workshops and domestic dwellings.