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The ice cream trade has passed through many phases, and
during the last few years it had reached the stage where practically
90% of the ice cream was sold pre-packed and frozen hard.
A recent development has been the sale of "soft" ice cream.
This is an ice cream that has been made in the factory, put into
hermetically sealed containers, and stored in a cold place. When
required, this mix is fed into a freezer and served direct as a loose ice
cream. The public seem to prefer this softer ice cream to the factory
made pre-packed type that has undergone a hardening process.
The sales of this new type of ice cream was at first confined
to shops, but now vans are being equipped with motor driven
freezers for this type of trade, therefore vans adapted for this purpose
can no longer be classified as vending vehicles, but are in fact a
mobile manufacturing plant.
Vans that have been specially built for this purpose, comply in
all respects with the Food Hygiene Regulations, as all surfaces are
covered with impervious material and in addition to cold storage
cabinets and freezers, they are equipped with hand basins and means
for providing hot water for washing.
Providing the operator obtains his initial mix from a reputable
firm and observes the highest standards of hygiene in regard to the
equipment and methods of handling this new form of vending should
not create any hazards or problems, but great care must be observed
in cleaning and sterilising the equipment.
At the end of the year, 265 persons were registered with the
Council as vendors of ice cream, of these 38 were registered as
itinerant vendors, the remainder being shop premises. Regular
checks are made on all premises and vehicles.
During the year 176 samples of ice cream were taken for
bacteriological examination, these samples were classified as
follows:—
Ministry of Health (Provisional) Grade 1 130
Ministry of Health (Provisional) Grade 2 21
Ministry of Health (Provisional) Grade 3 16
Ministry of Health (Provisional) Grade 4 9
36 lollies were also submitted for bacteriological examination
and 13 were found to be unsatisfactory.
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