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suggested that the action taken in connection with the investigation
resulted in a marked and steady reduction in the bad bottles distributed.
The 104 cases fell into one of two categories. In the first, comprising
16 instances, minute pieces of glass were in a bottle which itself was in a
sound condition. The other group comprised those where the bottle was
broken in such a way as to be a potential danger, and by the time of
consumption some fragments had got into the milk. In 74 of these bottles
the rims were broken or damaged. In the case of the 16 bottles where
the glass was found to be perfectly sound, the presumption is that the
fragments had been introduced before the bottles were capped. In the
other cases it was not possible to prove that the damage had not occurred
at the school after delivery by the dairy roundsman, though there were
many cases where the nature of the damage strongly suggested that it had
occurred while the bottle was being handled by the bottler or in distribution.
In 12 of the 16 cases in which sound bottles contained glass in
milk, prosecutions for selling milk not of the standard demanded were
instituted. Three of these cases were dismissed, but in the other nine
cases convictions were recorded.
(E) HYGIENE OF FOOD
Ten years ago the Public Health Committee started its clean food
campaign and appointed a Food Hygiene Sub-Committee. The aim was,
with the help of members of the public, shopkeepers and all engaged in
the handling of food, to achieve higher standards of cleanliness in food
shops, restaurants and in other places where food was handled or prepared.
The sub-committee later gave way to the Food Hygiene Advisory Council,
to which members of the various food trades and members of different
organisations are elected.
Much progress has been made. This has come about partly by what
has been done by the traders themselves in such matters as the prepackaging
of foodstuffs, in refrigeration, in the use of plastic-type
materials and in modern shop design and layout.
These improvements are the result of a concerted effort in which
shopper and customer, shop assistant and food handler, shopkeeper and
restaurateur, together with local authorities, laboratory workers and
Ministries have played a part.
Much, however, remains to be done, for even to-day still can be found
the shopper who feels that the notice appealing to the public not to take
dogs into food shops could not possibly be intended for his or her special
poodle, the shopper who smokes and allows ash to fall over food, the
shop assistant who has yet to learn the washing of hands and the covering
of sores is important, the shopkeeper who has one standard for the front
of his premises which is seen by the customer, and a different one at the
back which probably would be very different if it was seen by the public;
the wholesaler in whose delivery vehicles there is a risk of food being
contaminated; and even the local authority whose own premises do no
meet the requirements of the Food Hygiene Regulations. The progress
that has been made suggests that the basis of the programme is sound
and that in time higher standards will be reached.