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Unsound Food.
Under Section 9 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938 there was one
prosecution. This was for the sale of food (jam tarts) unfit for human
consumption. A fine of £10 plus costs amounting to £3 3s. Od. was
imposed upon the defendant by the Court.
Ice Cream.
On the 1st May, 1947, the Ice Cream (Heat Treatment, etc.)
Regulations, 1947, came into operation.
These Regulations broadly require that, subject to certain qualifications,
the ingredients of ice cream shall be heat treated after being
mixed and that the mixture shall then be cooled until the freezing
process is begun. After freezing, ice cream must not be sold unless
it has been kept at a temperature of not more than 28°F, or, if its
temperature has risen above 28° F, unless it has again been heat treated
and then kept at not more than 28°F after having been frozen.
When these Regulations were issued the Minister of Health drew
attention to a form of methylene blue test adapted for testing ice cream.
There does not yet appear to be any test, the reliability of which is
sufficiently established to justify its use as a statutory test, non-compliance
with which would constitute an offence. The methylene blue
test appears to be the best available for testing ice cream, and is
simple and cheap to perform.
The results of the methylene blue test divide ice cream into four
categories — Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. It is suggested that if ice cream
consistently fails to reach Grade 1 or 2 it would be reasonable to regard
this as indicating defects of manufacture or handling which
call for further investigation.
During the year ninety-four samples of ice cream were taken for
bacteriological examination. Eighty-eight of these were subjected
to the methylene blue test and the results of sampling were as follows:—
Grade 1 7
Grade 2 25
Grade 3 34
Grade 4 22
In the remaining six samples owing to the ice cream being coloured
it was not possible to carry out the methylene blue test, and the
results of these samples were as follows:—
Coliform bacilli present in Plate Count
tubes inoculated with 1/10 ml.
(1) Yes Over 1,000,000
(2) Yes Over 1,000,000
(3) Yes Over 500,000
(4) Yes 44,000
(5) Yes 6,000
(6) Yes 4,800
Repeated visits were made to premises from which unsatisfactory
samples had been received, and further samples were taken. In ail
two hundred and forty-six such visits were made during the year.
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