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73
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 128, an increase of 3 on the previous year. These premises are regularly
inspected.
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 with the Local Authority,
and that the storage premises used by him shall also be registered.
The number registered as trading in the district at the end of the year
was 64, an increase of 3 during the year. Of these 24 were trading from
storage premises in Harrow and 40 from premises outside the district.
(D) ADULTERATION OF FOOD
The sampling of foods and drugs is one of the activities of the staff
of the Public Control Department of the County Council. Other work
they do includes duties under the Weights and Measures Acts, the Merchandise
Marks Act, and the Pharmacy and Poisons Act. This Department
also deals with the licensing of agencies for the supply of nurses, the
registration of theatrical employers and the licensing of employment
agencies. In addition, it has responsibilities under the Road Traffic
Acts for checking that on vehicles using County roads the weights transmitted
by the road wheels do not exceed the prescribed weight, and the
enforcement of the Motor Cycles (Protective Helmets) Regulations.
The following particulars have been taken from the Annual Report
of the Chief Officer of the Public Control Department for the year 1958/
59, and which of course relates to the whole County and not merely to
this district.
Of the 1,497 samples examined by the Public Analyst, only 82 were
found to be incorrect. This was a marked improvement on the position
of the previous year, but even then only 140 out of 1,567 samples examined
were incorrect.
Only 14 of the 507 samples of milk were incorrect. There was virtually
no adulterated or sub-standard milk. Of the 10 incorrect new milk
samples, being milk as delivered by farmers, 9 were samples from individual
churns from consignments which on average were satisfactory. The tenth
incorrect sample of "new milk" was from a churn containing 6% added
water, the churn being one of a consignment of ten of which the other
nine were allright. This farmer was cautioned. The four unsatisfactory
samples of other milk were all of bottles delivered to schools. One bottle
contained a chip of glass, the other three were contaminated by dust or
mould. The dairymen were cautioned.
The tighter control of the use of the word 'cream' has almost eliminated
the former trade practice by which the word cream was applied to
cakes and pastries filled with imitation cream.