London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Barking 1956

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barking]

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Default Action
Statutory notices served on the owners of 46 dwelling houses were
not executed within the period permitted and in default legal proceedings
were authorised. In each case the owners of the premises
referred to carried out the work immediately this action was contemplated
and in no case was it necessary to proceed further.
Repairs were carried out by the Corporation at 11 premises in
accordance with provisions of Sections 89, 45 and 56 of the Public
Health Act, 1936.
Section C—SUPERVISION OF FOOD SUPPLIES
Following a year in which public opinion was expressed very
freely in support of a more rigorous approach to clean safe food, the
Food Hygiene Regulations were brought into operation. These new
regulations made it obligatory for persons engaged in the handling of
food for human consumption to attain a reasonable tandard of
hygiene in the premises. Special regulations requiring was ng facilities
and appliances for personal cleanliness. All premises in he Borough
where food is sold are now fitted with a constant hot watt- apply.
The overall standard of equipment and appliance used in the
food industry continues to improve. The refrigerator is a commonplace
piece of equipment in all food shops, whilst in butchers shops
and general food shops refrigerated display cabinets e becoming
increasingly more popular. The refrigerator is now accepted as a
standard unit of equipment in the sale of food.
The rapidly increasing industrial exploitation of ratition brings
within the bounds of possibility its use in this country the not too
distant future for food preservation.
Already we read that the future of atomic food pre vation looks
so promising that a new plant to process 1,000 tons of food month is
to be built in the United States. In this plant, which will start operations
in 1958, scientists may well perfect this development, tentially one
of the most beneficial uses of atomic energy ever discovered. If they
are successful, it will be possible to preserve food without refrigeration,
an advance that will revolutionize food storage and distribution
throughout the world. Progress toward a practical, effective method of
"cold sterilizing" food through exposure to atomic radiation has been
steady during the last five years. At the beginning, scie tic knowledge
was limited almost entirely to two facts; spoilage bacteria in food are
killed by atomic radiation, and food so treated does not retain any o!
the atomic radiation. It was not known how much radiation was
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