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Ice Cream. There are 176 premises of which 54
are registered for the manufacture of ice cream.
398 inspections were made and 22 notices served.
On May 1st the Ice Cream (Heat Treatment, &c.)
Regulations, 1947, came into force and there is no
doubt that, as a result of these Regulations, Local
Authorities have greater control over the manufacture,
storage and sale of ice cream. The Regulations
provide that all the ingredients of ice cream must be
heat treated to ensure that the product is bacteriologically
pure. The manufacturer has the alternative
of buying his ingredients already heat treated to which
he adds only pure water and freezes, or he can, after
making his ice cream, subject it to the required temperature
for the prescribed time, rapidly cool and
freeze. This is a decided step forward though the
results will not be seen for some time owing to the
shortage of the required plant.
During the year, the Food Inspectors have been
endeavouring to educate the ice cream vendors and advising
them on their future procedure. The Ministry
of Health suggested the use of the Methylene Blue test
for the bacteriological examination of ice cream, grading
the results into four categories. This test has
the advantage of quickness and has proved satisfactory
for milk testing but, for several reasons, is not so
definite for ice cream which contains varying proportions
of milk fats. This is indicated in the low
grading of most of the samples taken.

Eleven samples were submitted for chemical analyses
and the fat content of these ranged from 0.13% to 11.52%.
The average composition of the samples was :
Fat Milk solids-not-fat Starch $ Sugar
3.28 °/o 6.08% 14.50 %
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