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109
The number of complaints from the public relating to the
condition of food purchased from local shops continued at a high
level. Items concerned with bread and flour confectionery show
a welcome drop particularly those relating to the presence of
foreign bodies. Most of the bread sold in the Borough originates
from relatively few factory bakehouses and the proprietors of these
establishments have great problems. Although baking machinery
is designed to be as fool-proof as possible, the human element
cannot be eliminated entirely. In order to cope with this, "Hygiene"
or "Control" Officers are employed and these officials are usually
most receptive to suggestions made by Inspectors.
There was a large increase in the number of complaints
received relating to dirty milk bottles (20 received as against 11 in
1967). Here again the trade is almost entirely in the hands of large
dairies and specialist staff is employed to monitor the product.
Very rarely is the milk itself found to be in any way deficient nor
is the liquid contaminated by the foreign matter concerned.
Difficulties arise when the milk is filled into bottles which
have not been entirely cleansed. The cleansing procedure is very
stringent but there are some items with which no known process
will cope. On the internal surface of bottles from which the milk
has been used, but which have not been rinsed, a film of milk
hardens in time and mould growth is set up. Further, certain
species of the fruit fly may lay eggs on this film and the pupae
cases become so firmly adherent that washing in jets of hot water
and detergent will not remove them. Again, bottles which have
been left about on building sites, where cement, etc., gains access;
bottles which have been used as a support for setting off fireworks;
bottles used to contain paint (schools are notorious offenders in
this connection); bottles into which items such as notes on cardboard,
addressed to the milkman, may have been inserted, are all
examples of how foreign matters come to be present in milk
bottles. The propensity of young school children for inserting
strange objects into school milk bottles and then producing them
to the teacher must not be overlooked.
The dairy owners have a number of methods to cope with
this situation. Employees smash all uncleansable bottles when
they reach the dairy and all staff along the production line are
instructed to watch out for such bottles and to reject them. Electronic
scanning devices have been tried but none, so far, have been
successful in differentiating between solid matter inside the bottles
and the inevitable scratches on the external glass surface.
Customers could assist in rinsing all bottles immediately after use
and seeing that they are returned directly to the roundsman.
Nevertheless, the Dairy owners must accept full responsibility
for their products and it is felt that the speeding up of production
lines has made the job of the "spotters", in spite of frequent