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14
in the garden or rescued from the accumulation in a factory seem to
be passed back without any attempt to clean them. More vigilance on
the part of the employees of the milk retailers would serve as a check to
their being passed on to be subjected merely to the routine cleansing, but
to-day it would seem many of these employees do not assist in this way.
Normally such bottles which have been not satisfactorily cleansed would
be detected by the routine supervision exercised by the staff operating
the plant. Less skilled and possibly more indifferent staff and difficult
conditions of work, especially arising from the black-out, result in their
not being detected, while again, they are deprived of the further check
which ordinarily would be given them by the roundsman himself.
Fortunately, the cleansing process, although it might fail to remove
gross contamination, does result in the sterilization of the foreign matter,
so that while unsightly, the pollution is not dangerous from the point of
view of health. This is not to imply that such conditions need to be
condoned, but it would be helpful if the consumers could be made to
realise that many of these instances of heavy contamination are the
result of gross misuse of the bottles by themselves.
Broken milk bottles are the cause of much annoyance which can be
eliminated only by concerted action. The milk distributors are in
difficulties owing to their depleted and in many cases unskilled staffs,
difficulties which, it seems, in some ways have been added to be a reduction
in the number of delivery rounds. These factors lead to accumulations
of bottles. The employers have been approached and these accumulations
are to-day found less on the highway where they were the subject
of abuse, being more commonly now placed by agreement with the owners
on private property. It is hoped that the help of the road sweepers
can be made use of so that they will salvage unbroken bottles instead of
having to remove the remains of those which have been broken.
(B) MEAT.
Inspection.
Of the very limited amount of slaughtering that took place in this
district that which did occur was at an institution or was of an occasional
pig belonging to a private pig club or individual. Of the 39 pigs killed
and examined three entire carcases were condemned on account of
emaciation, which the head of one and the mesenteric fats of two others
were affected by tuberculosis.
Meat Depot.
The premises at Canterbury Road continued to be used as a meat
depot. The amount of meat or offal condemned formed only a very
small percentage of the quantity passing through the depot, not in excess
of pre-war experience.
(C) OTHER FOOD.
Food Shops.
Food shops were frequently visited throughout the year, particular
attention being paid to their general cleanliness, to freedom from