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16
OVERCROWDING
The position with regard to statutory overcrowding is reasonably
satisfactory, owing to the special consideration which such cases
receive when allocations of Corporation dwellings are made.
The number of overcrowded families re-housed during the year
was 13.
SECTION 'E' —INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF
FOOD
The standard of food handling was reasonably satisfactory. It is
quite obvious that the majority of workers in the food trades cannot
be expected to appreciate the different degrees of risk of contamination
as between different commodities. Whilst the cardinal principle
should be, of course, scrupulous cleanliness in all aspects of food
handling, the interpretation of the Food Hygiene Regulations by the
Courts has lead to the position where complainants may often have
to be told that some practice, of which they complain, may be most
reprehensible according to the ordinary concepts of cleanliness, nevertheless
the degree of risk of contamination is so slight that official
action cannot be taken. Examples of this are unwrapped loaves of
bread and articles of food wrapped in thin cellophane bags, both types
of food which are often handled, with comparatively little risk, under
rather dirty conditions.
It is rarely that complaints are received nowadays of the sale of
unfit food. Usually it is found that there has been some oversight or
carelessness in securing the proper rotation of stocks in the retail
shops. Inspections are now being made to check the relative freshness
of certain prepacked meat products, in which effort we are receiving
the wholehearted co-operation of the manufacturers.