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five to cooked pies. The foreign matter found included a nut and bolt,
glass, price tickets, nails, wire, pieces of wood, and insects.
In no case was the cause of the trouble found to be due to gross
negligence or failure to maintain conditions satisfactory to the preparation
of food.
Ice Cream
Although the risks from the consumption of contaminated ice
cream were fully appreciated, it was not until some 200 persons suffered
from typhoid fever in 1946 in Aberystwyth that commercial ice cream
was made a safer product by the requirements of the Ice Cream (Heat
Treatment, etc.) Regulations, 1947.
Section 14 of the Food and Drugs Act requires the registration of
premises used in connection with the manufacture or sale of ice cream.
As during the year one manufacturer ceased to make ice cream, the
number of premises registered is now 7. Three of the manufacturers
made ice cream throughout the year, three only at intervals in the
summer.
At the end of the year there were 350 premises registered for the
retailing of ice cream; this was 5 less than the number on the register
at the 31st December, 1953.
The number of samples taken was 86. Grades I and II are considered
satisfactory; Grades III and IV are not, and if repeated
indicates fault in practice. 66 of the samples were Grade I or II; 13
Grade III or IV. In the case of the Grade III or IV samples enquiries
were made and follow up samples were taken. 15 of the samples were
taken from local manufacturers. Two of these which were unsatisfactory
led to the detection of a defective piece of equipment.
Preserved and Pickled Foods
The Food and Drugs Act of 1938 requires premises where sausages
or preserved or pickled foods are prepared or manufactured to be
registered by the local authority. The number of such premises in the
district which are registered is 119. Most of these are butchers' shops,
the registration being in respect of the manufacture of sausages. During
the year six premises were registered but over the same period the manufacture
of sausages ceased at a number of shops and the entries relating
to these were removed from the register.
Registration of Hawkers
The Middlesex County Council Act, 1950, requires that any person
not being a shopkeeper retailing any food from a cart, barrow, basket or
other receptacle shall be registered with the local authority, and thai
the storage premises used by him shall also be registered.
At the beginning of the year 62 hawkers were registered as trading
in the district; of these 31 were operating from storage premises m
Harrow.
During the year there were five new registrations, four being ®
respect of hawkers of greengrocery, one of shell fish; one application