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31
Section 5.
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD.
INTRODUCTION.
The importance of food inspection and supervision
of food premises during war years has been referred to in
previous Reports, but it cannot be over-emphasized. It is,
perhaps, only to be expected that when supplies are short
there will be an added temptation for the unscrupulous trader
to take a chance and to place on the market foodstuffs of an
inferior quality. During the year 65 complaints regarding food
were received and investigated. In the main they referred
to the alleged sale of unsound food, but there were several
instances in which it was alleged that the customer had not
received the article demanded. An example of the latter
type of complaint can be found in the case of sausages, the
contents of which, at the best of times, are commonly held
to be uncertain. Some sausages contain no meat and these
articles are sometimes known an "Savoury sausages", and
seldom, if ever, by a description of their actual contents.
On the other hand, beef and pork sausages are subject to
control, so far as the minimum meat content is concerned.
But all these sausages look very much alike in the shop
window and it is only after the purchaser has attempted to
cook the meatless sausages in the manner usually adopted
for the normal sausage, that the difference becomes only
too apparent, and complaint is made of alleged misrepresentation.
In such cases the price paid for the article should
usually afford a means of identification.
The frequent inspection of restaurant kitchens and
other food preparing premises, which in pre-war years was
normal procedure, was impossible during 1945 by reason of
continued shortage of staff and pressure of other work. But
towards the end of the year visits were resumed to a few,
more particularly the snack bars and similar premises. It
was not possible, however, to enforce a really satisfactory
standard owing to the difficulty experienced in obtaining
licences from the Ministry of Works in those cases where
necessary works involved use of materials in short supply.
(a) Milk Supply.
At the end of 1945, the number of registered
dairymen remained at the figure of 40, which includes a
number of firms whose premises are situate outside the
Borough Boundary but who retail milk within the Borough#
There is only one producer retailer in the Borough, and his
herd does not remain at the premises in the borough all the
year round, but during the winter months only. In the summer
they are transported to a farm outside the boundary.
Designated Milks.
Apart from registrations under the Milk and
Dairies Order, 1926, the following tabular statement shows
the number of licences issued under the provisions of the
Milk (Special Designations) Regulations 1936 - 1943.