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ICE CREAM.
Certificates of registration were issued in respect
of 11 premises during the year, making a total of 46 premises
now registered for the sale of ice cream in the district.
Inspections were made, of all registered premises, and such
minor improvements as were considered desirable carried out.
54 samples of ice cream of 14 different makes were
obtained for bacteriological examination. Of these:-
39 were placed in Grade 1.
12 " " " " 2.
2 " " " " 3
1 was " " " 4
In explanation of these Grades, it should be pointed
out that no statutory standard of purity of ice-cream-has yet
been laid down, probably because no completely satisfactory
test has yet been devised. A provisional test, known as the
Methylene Blue test, is recommended and generally used, which
is based on the ability of organisms to reduce the colour of
a certain dye. According to the time taken to reduce the
colour an indication is obtained as to the bacterial state of
the sample, and four grades hove been adopted.
It can be said that samples placed in Grades 1 or 2
are to be considered satisfactory, and those falling into Grades
3 or 4 unsatisfactory.
Of the samples taken during the year where they were
not placed in Grade 1, the methods of distribution of the
retailers concerned were more closely examined. With one
exception, the ice-cream was sold unwrapped and simple faults
in connection with the utensils used were found. The retailers
were advised on methods, and subsequent samples were pieced in
Grade 1. In the one exception referred to, the ice-cream
was sold wrapped as supplied by the manufacturer. The local
authority of the district in which the ice-cream was manufactured
was notified, and in this instance also subsequent samples were
in Grade 1.
FOOD POISONING.
Only one case was notified during the year, and the
patient made a rapid and satisfactory' recovery. The causative
agent was not traced.
The Department was asked to co-operate in the
investigation of an outbreak of food-poisoning at a school meals
centre in another district, in which certain meat supplied from a
store in this district was found to be heavily contaminated with
an organism which was concluded to be the causative agent.
During these investigations, a member of the staff of this store
was found to bo excreting a similar organism, and although this
did not necessarily indicate that this person was the cause of
the outbreak, he was excluded from handling food until his conditio
had cleared up.
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