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12
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD AND FOOD PREMISES
The food premises in the borough are regularly inspected by the Public Health Inspectors (Table 37).
The Food Hygiene Regulations, 1955, which came into operation on the 1st January, 1956, prescribed
standards for the preparation, storage and sale of clean food. There has been a marked improvement in
hygiene in the production and sale of food.
Public Health Inspectors visited food premises frequently and served verbal or written notices to
improve their standard. Works in some premises are still either in progress or arrangements are being made
for them to be carried out (Tables 38, 39).
One person was prosecuted for smoking while handling open food and was fined £5 with one guinea
costs.
A greengrocer was prosecuted for six contraventions of the Food Hygiene Regulations, and fined £30
with two guineas costs.
A food hawker was prosecuted under section 105 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, and for one
contravention of the Food Hygiene Regulations. He was fined £10 for the offence under the Food and Drugs
Act and £3 for the offence under the Food Hygiene Regulations, with five guineas costs.
The proprietors of a grocers' shop were prosecuted for three contraventions of the Food Hygiene
Regulations ; they were granted an absolute discharge on two, convicted on the third and fined £2 with five
guineas costs each.
Premises where food is prepared
Premises which manufacture or sell ice-cream or prepare or manufacture sausages, potted, pressed,
pickled or preserved foods, including cooked meat or fish intended for sale, must be registered by the Council.
If the Council refuses or cancels a registration, the owner can appeal first to them and if unsuccessful to a
court of summary jurisdiction (Table 40).
Premises where ice-cream is manufactured are kept under constant supervision. Most of the icecream
sold in the borough is manufactured outside the district, and is usually pre-packed. The ice-cream
reaches a high standard of purity (Table 9).
Education in food hygiene
Public Health Inspectors gave talks on food hygiene, illustrated with filmstrips, to the staff from 11
factory canteens and to the catering staff of 6 school meal kitchens and 38 schools. Lectures and talks
illustrated with filmstrips and bacteriological cultures were also given to social and political organisations
and school leavers.
The Metropolitan Dairymen's Society and the department co-operated in exhibiting a display stand
at the Willesden Show in connection with the Society's clean milk bottle campaign.
Food poisoning
There was one outbreak of food poisoning during the year. The first patient, a woman aged 80,
was admitted to hospital suffering from salmonella Heidelberg infection and died a week later.
The day after her admission four other patients became ill and salmonella Heidelberg was isolated
from their specimens of faeces. Subsequently two more patients, a nurse and a ward maid contracted the
illness.
An examination of specimens of faeces submitted by the remaining patients and staff working in the
ward revealed that two patients and three nurses were carriers of the infection. The illness was mild and
those affected speedily recovered. Strict isolation prevented the infection from spreading to other parts of
the hospital.
One of the nurses affected lived out and on investigation it was found that four members of the
family living at the same address were carriers of the infection. It was not possible to determine whether they
were infected by the nurse or by food.
Three members of another family living in the same area, who had no connection with the Neasden
Hospital, developed symptoms and salmonella Heidelberg was isolated from their specimens of faeces.
It was not possible to trace the food responsible for the outbreak. There were several outbreaks of
salmonella Heidelberg infection in the London area, eight of which were connected with ham bought from
various branches of a firm of grocers. The last family affected in Willesden had eaten ham recently, and
occasionally bought groceries from this firm, but could not remember where they had bought the ham. There
was no evidence to link the first case with ham or this family. Seven specimens of ham were taken from
the firm's branch and three other shops in the area, and submitted for bacteriological examination, but the
results were negative.
Food unfit for human consumption
Nearly 4 tons and 5,700 tins of food inspected by the Public Health Inspectors were found to be
unfit for human consumption (Table 41).
All the food was dealt with as trade refuse by the Borough Engineers' Department, and deposited
on the controlled refuse tip.
Contaminated food
20 specimens of contaminated food were dealt with by the department. They included foreign matter
in a bottle of milk, sausages, a cheesecake, and a loaf of bread; maggots in bacon and roast pork; mouldy
growth in meat pies and a loaf; a bottle of mineral water with an offensive smell; a bolt in a bread roll:
mice dirt and a beetle in loaves of bread; a cigarette end in a jar of jam; metal discs in a tin of tomatoes;
an insect in a sausage roll, and pieces of glass in a milk bottle.