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49
staff so recruited and supervised cannot be expected to adopt and maintain
a high standard of care and cleanliness. It is unfortunate that in this country,
which has so long enjoyed a justifiable reputation for leadership in public
health, the low standard of food hygiene should have given rise to invidious
comparison with the higher standards of other countries.
During recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of
outbreaks of food-poisoning reported annually to the Ministry of Health,
and it is well known that there occur annually many cases of food poisoning
that are never reported.
CONTROL OF CATERING ESTABLISHMENTS
(a) Existing Legal Powers.
The Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1938, gave to Local Sanitary
Authorities much-needed powers to exercise control over premises used for
the preparation, storage and sale of food, and to make Bye-Laws for securing
the observance of sanitary and cleanly conditions and practices in the handling,
wrapping and delivery of food.
The Public Health (Infectious Disease) Regulations empower a Local
Authority or their Medical Officer of Health to suspend from work—in the
preparation or handling of food for human consumption—any person suffering
from certain specified infectious diseases.
The Shops Act contains certain provisions applicable to catering
establishments.
The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act requires Local Authorities to
take all necessary steps to secure that their districts are kept free from rats
and mice and to prevent damage to food by pests.
(b) Need for Extension of Powers.
But for many years the need has been felt for power to prevent food
(including drink) eaten or sold in food premises from being a source of
infection to the consumer. This goes far beyond the problem of clean food—
for the cleanest of food may be infected by the person who handles it, by the
utensils in which it is contained, or by the water and cloths used to clean
those utensils.
CATERING TRADE WORKING PARTY
(i) Terms of Reference.
In 1948 the Minister of Food appointed a Working Party of experts
" to make recommendations to the Ministers of Food and Health
and the Secretary of State for Scotland as to the precautions considered
practicable and desirable with a view to securing the observance of
sanitary and cleanly conditions in the catering trade."
(ii) The Report.
The Report of the Catering Trade Working Party—a handbook of some
50 pages published by the Ministry of Food with the title "Hygiene in
Catering Establishments"—was issued in 1951.