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35
Ice-Cream.
Section 99 of the Dagenham Urban District Council Act, 1931,
calls for the registration of (a) any person being the manufacturer
of or merchant or dealer in ice-cream or other similar commodity
within the district, and (b) any premises within the district used
or proposed to be used for the manufacture or sale of ice-cream or
other similar commodity.
The additional powers granted under the Essex County Council
Act, 1933, to refuse registration or remove from the register should
prove useful.
During the year 161 visits were paid to premises used for the
sale or manufacture of ice-cream. 13 samples were purchased
and submitted for bacterial analysis, of which 8 were satisfactory,
and 5 not. The applications for registration ot those manufacturers
or vendors whose samples were unsatisfactory were
deferred for one month, by which time the ice-cream trade had
diminished and practically ceased for the year. The number of
manufacturers or vendors registered during the year was 77.
The standard required before applicants for registration are
deemed satisfactory, in the case of vendors, is:—glass covers for
wafer biscuits, cones, etc., when exposed on shop forecourts;
tin lids of biscuit boxes carried on tricycles of itinerant vendors to
be kept closed; systematic changing of water in which instruments
for making wafers, etc., are kept. So far as the manufacturer is
concerned, most of the ice-cream consumed in this district is made
outside, usually by well-known companies. In these cases, when
application is made for registration, the district in which the
manufacturer is situated is written to regarding the satisfactoriness
or otherwise of the manufacturer. Ice-cream manufactured in
the district is found in the main to be made in the domestic quarters
of shop premises. Upon visiting the premises the Inspectors
satisfy themselves as to the cleanliness and suitability of the
room in which the ice-cream is made, including the arrangements
for storage ; the personal cleanliness of the manufacturer ; the
Provisions for the cleansing of utensils, including efficient means
scalding, etc.; the milk supply.
Food Poisoning.
Under Section 105 (1) of the Dagenham Urban District
Council Act, 1931, 57 notifications of food poisoning were received.
There were only three instances in which two members of the same
family suffered from symptoms of food poisoning. In order to
assist the enquiries in the source of poisoning, the medical