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Inspection and Supervision of Food
The following is the record of inspection of food premises : —
Meat 1,177
Fish 150
Provisions 74
Greengroceries and Fruit 201
Hawkers' Food Stuffs 32
Food Preparation Places Inspected 245
Number of other Food Inspections 72
Milk.
In addition to a note of the number of samples of milk taken under the Food and Drugs
Act for analysis, I have received the following report from the County Medical Officer with
regard to the action taken to safeguard the milk supply of the district:—
During the year 1936, 34 samples of milk were taken from retailers in the district. These
samples were submitted to the Lister Institute for animal inoculation tests, but in no instance was
the presence of tubercle bacilli demonstrated.
Routine examination of milch cattle was carried out during the year by Mr. R. Wooff,
M.R.C.V.S., the County Council's whole-time veterinary inspector, and 433 inspections of animals
were made. Three cows were found to be suffering from tuberculosis and were slaughtered.
411 inspections were carried out in respect of cowsheds, dairies and milkshops.
Unofficial milk analyses are made bv the Medical Officer of Health.
Number of firms in the district licensed to sell :—
"Certified" milk 5 (10 shops).
"Grade A" (Tuberculin Tested) milk 9 (15 shops).
" Grade A" milk —
"Grade A" Pasteurised milk 2 (2 shops).
*" Pasteurised" milk 10 (20 shops).
(*one of these is a licensed producer of " Pasteurised " milk).
Meat Inspection.
1. Meat Inspection.—This is still kept at a very high pitch of efficiency. The Chief
Sanitary Inspector and the District Sanitary Inspectors hold special certificates for the meat
inspection. Slaughter-houses and butchers' shops are visited periodically.
There are now 8 slaughter-houses (4 registered and 4 licensed), in use in the district, and
each slaughter-house received on an average 9 visits per month. There were 73 butchers' shops
in the district at the end of 1936.
2. Public Abattoir.— There is no public abattoir in the district. Slaughtering may take
place at any time, subject to the requisite notice being given. In the early part of 1935 the Public
Health Committee considered the question of providing a public abattoir. After consideration
of information obtained from Authorities where public abattoirs are established it was resolved
that consideration of the question of the establishment of a public abattoir in this district be adjourned
sine die.
3. Action under Section 117, Public Health Act, 1875:—No unsound meat was seized
during the year.
4. Diseased Meat.—A total of 2,771 lbs. was surrendered during the year, including 1,304
lbs. of tubercular meat.
The slaughter-houses on the whole are kept, so far as their construction will allow, in a
fairly satisfactory condition. The butchers still continue to buy mainly in the London wholesale
meat markets.
The Public Health (Meat) Regulations, 1924, continue to cause a considerable amount of
work, and the amount slaughtered has become to a large extent stabilised. The slaughtering is
often continued well into the evening to suit the personal convenience of the butchers.
When new butchers shops are opened every effort is made to obtain fixed windows, but
with the absence of positive power to demand fixed windows, there is a tendency on the part of
some of the butchers to adopt a standstill attitude with regard to this most desirable method of
preventing contamination of the meat exposed for sale.
The provision of fixed glazed windows to many of the shops in the district has proved
beneficial both from the point of view of preventing contamination and maintaining longer the
saleable qualities of the meat. Having regard to this improvement in certain instances, the reason
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