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BUTCHERS' SHOPS
All 98 butchers' shops In the Borough were thoroughly inspected during the
year.
At 68, matters were found requiring attention which included repair, redecoration,
renewal of equipment, lack of proper cleanliness, unsatisfactory
storage of refuse, inadequate use of protection of meat and other foods against
contamination, insufficient use if protective clothing and separation of processes,
e. g. evisceration of poultry from places where meat is stored and handled. Most
of these matters had received attention by the end of the year.
It was disappointing to note that at no less than 62 premises the use of sawdust
on floors is still practised This introduces hygienic risks and should be
avoided. Unless properly damped and sprinkled with care on the floor, and particularly
well damped again before sweeping up there is a danger of dust rising and
contaminating any exposed meat, chopping blocks, counters, etc. When it dries
during the day it can also be raised in the form of dust by the feet of customers.
It may also be used to cover floors that have not been properly cleansed.
A hard-core of proprietors and managers, however, insist that the use of sawdust
is essential to provide a non-slip surface and to act as a floor dressing to
take up any moisture from the meat dripping on to it.
Non-slip floors can, however, be provided by the use of granolithic incorporating
carborundum, and other surfaces have proved quite satisfactory in shops
where the use of sawdust would not be tolerated. Hygienists have been campaigning
for years to abolish the use of sawdust and it is to be hoped that when next the
Pood Hygiene Regulations are revised this abolition will be achieved.
A copy of the Pood Hygiene Code of Practice for Hygiene in the Retail Meat
Trade, produced by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture,Fisheries
and Pood, was handed to each proprietor or manager, and, where they were willing
to display them, notices asking customers to kindly refrain from bringing their
dogs into the shops.
PREMISES REGISTERED FOR PREPARATION OP MANUFACTURE OF
SAUSAGES OR POTTED, PRESSED, PICKLED OR PRESERVED FOOD
INTENDED FOR SALE
At the end of the year 96 premises were registered for the following purposes:
Brining of meat 75
Boiling of Hams 7
Cooking and/or pressing of
Meat 4
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