London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hillingdon 1966
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
This page requires JavaScript
Environmental Health
75
As far as catering premises are concerned, the inspections have shown that the standard of hygiene
is generally good notwithstanding the extremely difficult conditions under which the caterers operate.
The principal difficulties are shortage of trained staff and the problem of operating throughout the
24 hours.
IMPORTED FOOD INSPECTION
There were 701 inspections made under the Public Health (Imported Food) Regulations 1937-48.
The basic requirements are for food to be fit for sale for human consumption, and in respect of meat
and meat products, Official Certificates are necessary to ensure the products were prepared in specified
approved establishments.
There were 272 tons of various foods inspected as shown:—
| Article | lb. | Article | lb. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meat (various) | 185,886 | Prawns | 1,061 |
| Beef fillets | 161,536 | Poultry | 1,636 |
| Cooked and smoked meats | 17,134 | Pate de fois | 8,076 |
| Bacon and ham | 4,409 | Milk and cheese | 6,956 |
| Meat paste | 3,006 | Butter and fats | 1,553 |
| Sausage | 62,827 | Fruits | 14,231 |
| Salami | 1,897 | Vegetables | 45,229 |
| Offal | 3,562 | Confectionery | 1,240 |
| Casings | 4,435 | Flour confectionery | 2,594 |
| Fish | 19,385 | Miscellaneous | 63,924 |
The following foods were found unfit and were voluntarily surrendered:—
| Article | lb. | Article | lb. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meat | 575½ | Smoked salmon | 37 |
| Pork paste | 4½ | Poultry meat | 44 |
| Meat mayonnaise | 10¾ | Dried snails | 1,320 |
| Fish mayonnaise | 6½ | Vegetables | 2,129 |
| Fruit | 1,140 |
Twelve consignments of meat and meat products had no official Certificates attached, and were
detained. One consignment of 24 lb. was destroyed, three consignments weighing 837 lb. were exported
and eight imports weighing 603 lb. were released on receipt of undertakings that they would not be sold
for human consumption.
There were 126 samples of imported food submitted for bacteriological examination with the following results:—
| Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | |
|---|---|---|
| Choriso dry sausage | 1 | 8 |
| Imitace | 4 | 3 |
| Other sausages | 53 | 13 |
| Debreziner roast | 4 | 7 |
| Gipsy pork roast | 3 | 3 |
| Ham | 3 | 5 |
| Cooked and smoked ox tongues | — | 7 |
| Other cooked meats | 2 | — |
| Pate | 2 | — |
| Lobster Newburg | 1 | — |
| Cheese | 2 | — |
| Flour confectionery | 1 | — |
| Watercress | — | 4 |
| TOTALS | 76 | 50 |