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131
Two of the untreated milks failing the methylene blue test
were farm bottled at one farm and the other two were cartoned
on the producer's premises and sold from vending machines.
These failures were reported to the County Dairy Husbandry Adviser
of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who is responsible
for supervising milk production.
The eleven samples shown as void were due to the atmospheric
shade temperature during the period of storage exceeding 70°F. so
that the methylene blue test was not applied.
The phosphatase test indicates that pasteurisation has been
properly carried out; the methylene blue test is used to
determine cleanliness and keeping quality and the turbidity test
is a check on sterilisation.
Ice Cream.
The number of registered premises in the Borough at 31st
December, 1967 which ice cream may be stored or from which it
may be sold is 289. This figure includes one producer. In
addition to these dealers and producer there are other premises
which are not required to be registered such as restaurants,
canteens and cinemas where ice cream is sold.
With the progress made in clearing the houses and factories
for housing redevelopment in the Cambridge Road area three ice
cream factories which had been established in the Borough for
many years have been closed.
The following table shows the results of examination of
116 samples submitted to the Public Health Laboratory at Epsom
during 1967. Owing to the numerous factors governing the
hygienic quality of ice cream, undue attention is not paid to
the bacteriological results on any single sample. Those which
are placed within Grades I and II are considered to be satisfactory
and those within Grades III and IV not so. Adequate follow-up
action is taken where samples fall within the latter grades.
One of the Grade IV samples was of soft ice cream, one was
loose ice cream and one was from an open container. The
majority of the samples taken were of unwrapped ice cream which
being exposed is far more liable to contamination. Unless
great care is taken to keep scoops in a hygienic condition and
containers covered when not serving loose ice cream, the risk of
bacteriological contamination is increased.