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46
Factories Act, 1937.
95 visits of inspection were made to Factories in the area. The
following nuisances discovered were remedied following the service
of informal notices:—
Unreasonable temperature 1
Insufficient sanitary accommodation 3
Unsuitable and defective sanitary accommodation 17
Miscellaneous offences 2
Shops Acts.
116 visits were paid in connection with the Shops Acts. 16
contraventions discovered were remedied following the service of
Intimation Notices.
Water Supply.
The water supply of the area has been satisfactory in quality and
quantity, all properties being supplied by the mains of the Metropolitan
Water Board. Bacteriological examination of the supply has
been regular. 36 samples have been taken during the year and
reported as satisfactory by the County Pathologist. An encampment
of caravan dwellers obtain their water supply from a stand pipe taken
direct from the Metropolitan Water Board mains.
The Ice Cream (Heat Treatment) Regulations, 1947.
These regulations, which, with certain limitations, came into
force on the 1st May, 1947, if they do not do all that Public Health
Officers desired, do form an important legislative step in food hygiene.
The Regulations, broadly speaking, require that, subject to
certain qualifications, the ingredients of ice cream shall be Heat
Treated after being mixed, and that the mixture shall then be cooled
until the freezing process is begun. After freezing, the ice cream
must not be sold unless it has been kept at a temperature of not more
than 28 degrees Fahrenheit. If its temperature has risen above 28
degrees Fahrenheit it has again to be heat treated.
The Regulations must be operated by, and to the satisfaction of,
Local Authorities and there is a general requirement that ice cream,
during its manufacture, storage and distribution shall at all times be
protected from contamination, and also that all apparatus and utensils
brought into contact with it shall be cleansed immediately after use
and kept clean at all times.
In Beckenham the number of Manufacturers is small, but there
ate a large number of vendors, and so we are mainly concerned with
the storage and distribution of ice cream.
This is, of course, not the first step ever taken to control the Ice
Cream Trade. Local Authorities have for many years had authority
to register certain premises for such purposes. This power is given
in the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, but does not apply to premises
used primarily as a Club, Hotel, Inn, or Restaurant, or to theatres,
cinematograph theatres, so far as sale and storage is concerned. It is