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Naturally when one is dealing with Food Hygiene one can never be complacent or even pretend
to be satisfied with any limited achievement. This work is a continuous struggle and it is doubtful
whether a state of affairs will ever be reached when one can conscientiously and truthfully
express a feeling of satisfaction.
It should be pointed out that a great effort has been made by the staff of this department to
ensure that all catering units which have been brought into use during the year conform to a
satisfactory standard , and the amount of time and effort devoted to these new premises has
considerably reduced the attention which could otherwise have been paid to restaurants already
in operation.
SAMPLING UNDER THE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT, 1955
Samples purchases by the Sampling Officer during the year constituted a representative
cross-section of all articles of food in regular use. Of the 404 samples purchased only 30, or
7.4%, were the subject of an adverse report by the Public Analyst. Most of these irregularities
referred to infringements of the Labelling of Food Order and were resolved after consultation
with the manufacturers and packers concerned.
Particular attention was again paid to the sampling of made-up foods such as minced fresh
meat, sausage meat, sausages, fish cakes and pies of all descriptions. These commodities were
purchased early on Monday morning as most retail food premises in the City are closed from
Friday evening until Monday morning and it was felt that sampling at that time would give an
accurate indication of the freshness or otherwise of food offered for sale during the early part
of the week. Three such samples were found to be in a mouldy condition and to be unfit for human
consumption. One sample, a beef croquette and the other, a turkey croquette, purchased from
two separate shops, were found to contain mould growths in the substance of the food. Subsequently,
successful legal proceedings were taken against both retail shops. In the third case
a fishcake was also found to be in a mouldy condition, but as the mould contamination was very
slight it was decided not to take legal action. However, this problem was discussed with the
Manager of the premises in question who agreed that in future all stock of perishable food stuffs
left over at the end of each day would be destroyed and not as had been the practice, hitherto,
returned to the suppliers.
All the formal samples of milk purchased from milk roundsmen in the City were up to standard
but four formal samples of hot milk purchased from catering establishments were found to be
adulterated. In each case the milk had been heated by steam injection and, when informed of
the Analyst's Report, each caterer agreed that in future, he would heat milk in a pan or closed
container if hot milk were specifically asked for by the customer. This form of adulteration is
somtimes found to occur in cafes and restaurants carrying on a brisk morning trade which necessitates
serving customers as speedily as possible. There does not seem any intent to defraud
the public and the practice of heating milk by means of steam injection is always discontinued
when the offence is pointed out to the caterer in question. One complaint regarding the adulteration
of milk referred to milk sold from a staff canteen but a thorough investigation failed
to indicate why or by whom the milk had been watered. A subsequent formal sample purchased
from the same premises was found on analysis to be satisfactory.
The number of complaints received from customers regarding articles of food unfit for human
consumption or food containing extraneous materials increased sharply during the year and may
be an indication of the decreasing efficiency of some firms engaged in both the catering and
retail food trades. It will be noted from the table below which includes the legal proceedings
instituted under the Food and Drugs Act, that all eight cases involved unfit food or food containing
extraneous materials.
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