View report page

8
The joint Clean Food Campaign with Bexley and Crayford
goes forward slowly but steadily and good progress has been
made in what is essentially a long term health education project.
In April, 1951 a clean food exhibition was held and was reasonably
well supported by the general public. Organised parties
of school children from the three areas visited the exhibition
and lectures and film shows were given. Codes of Practice
have now been formulated for all the main food trades and
applications for membership have been received from 98 food
traders of which 19 have been approved to date. There is
still a great deal of work to be done in this sphere during the
next few years to bring into membership the majority of the
food traders in the area. An attractive plaque has now been
prepared which, we hope, will become more and more familiar
to the public as it appears in increasing numbers in the
windows and on the premises of the food establishments of
the Borough.
Effluvia from the river Thames continued to be a cause
of discomfort and exasperation to the people of the Borough
during the year. The remedy, however, does not lie with the
Borough Council, who have given this matter considerable
attention, but with the London County Council, whose
£10,000,000 scheme to improve the sewage effluents from their
Barking and Crossness outfalls has been approved by the
Ministry of Health and is now in the early stages of implementation.
There appears to be no method of bringing this
nuisance to an early end and the remedy is, unfortunately, a
long term one.
The prevention of accidents in the home is being recognised
more and more as coming within the realm of preventive
medicine and therefore a legitimate field of endeavour for the
public health authorities. This matter can best be dealt with
by a partnership of local health authority, local authority and
the local Road Safety Committees, whose functions could be
enlarged to cover by means of a sub-committee this important
part of the work of accident prevention in general.
Preliminary steps to achieve this end have been taken locally
and it is hoped that further developments will take place
during 1952.
During 1951 the Bexley public mortuary was enlarged and
equipped with refrigeration for six bodies. It will be used by
Erith by arrangement with the Bexley Borough Council.
I wish to thank the members of the Health Committee for