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74
(C) OTHER FOODS
Food Premises
There were at the end of the year in the district 234 grocers shops,
143 fruiterers and greengrocers, 137 butchers, 54 fish shops, 35 dairies
and 154 confectionery/cafes.
Condemned Food
During the year 9,596 lbs. of food were found to be unfit and had to
be destroyed. This was nearly ten per cent. less than the amount dealt
with in the previous year. About half was of meat and meat products,
though the figure does not include the meat found unfit at the slaughterhouses.
Complaints
There were 31 complaints during the year about foreign matter in
food. Nine of the complaints related to bread, seven to meat pies, and
ten to tinned or packet goods.
Warning letters were sent to those responsible.
Ice Cream
At the end of the year 369 premises were registered for the retailing
of ice cream, an increase of four on the number on the register at the
end of 1956. Of these seven are registered for the purpose of manufacture
but at only three was ice cream made.
47 samples were taken. Grades I and II are considered satisfactory;
grades III and IV are not, and if repeated indicate faults in practice. All
11 samples from local manufacturers were grade I. Of the others, three
were grades III or IV and were from a trader who ceased to deal in ice
cream. When unsatisfactory reports are received, enquiries are made with
a view to the cause of the trouble being ascertained, and subsequent
samples are taken.
27 of the 35 samples of ice lollies examined were satisfactory.
Preserved and Pickled Foods
The Food and Drugs Act, 1938, requires premises where sausages or
preserved or pickled foods are prepared or manufactured to be registered
by the local authority. The number of premises now registered is 125,
an increase of one over the previous year.
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
any other receptacle shall be registered by the local authority, and that
the storage premises used by him should also be registered.
The number registered as trading in the district at the end of the year
was 57, an increase of one during the year. Of these, 22 were trading
from storage premises in Harrow and 35 from premises outside the
district.