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69
Environmental Health
The Chief Public Health Inspector, Mr. A. Makin, reports:—
For the first time since the formation of the Borough the Environmental Health Section had
virtually a complete establishment. This has made for much smoother administration and the report
which follows reflects this position.
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF FOOD
A considerable proportion of the district public health inspector's time is spent in dealing with
the protection of food supplies from manufacture to point of sale. There is involved the post-mortem
examination of cattle, pigs and sheep at the slaughterhouse, the inspection of food preparing premises
—both large and small—and the inspection of retail food shops. Generally speaking the food premises
in the Borough are complying with the Food Hygiene Regulations as far as structure and fittings
are concerned; the great deficiency is in the unsatisfactory handling of food. It is this latter which the
department is now trying to improve.
In addition to the regular inspection of food and food premises samples of food are submitted
for both bacteriological and chemical examination; details are given later in the report.
There are 1,372 premises in the Borough in which food is prepared, stored or sold and a total of
6,415 visits of inspection were made to these premises in 1968, an average of 28.7 visits per working
day. In order to ensure that standards of hygiene are properly maintained, it is essential that regular
visits should be made to food premises—certainly at not less than three monthly intervals. Some
premises, I regret to say, require weekly visits to ensure that proper standards are maintained. An
average of 4.6 visits to each food establishment was made in 1968. Whilst this, at first sight may
appear to be satisfactory, this is not so really, as it has been found necessary to concentrate on the
worst offenders and neglect to some extent the more efficient operators.
Perhaps the most sad comment is that the bulk of the employees in the food trade, particularly
those in the kitchens of the catering industry, appear to be completely unaware of the elementary
rules of hygiene or of their responsibility for protecting the food they prepare for public consumption.
Milk Supplies
All milk sold by retail in this country must be "specially designated". There are four categories
of milk sold under Special Designations which are prescribed by Regulations, namely "untreated"
and the heat treated milks "Pasteurised", "Sterilised" and "Ultra Heat Treated". The tests which
the milk must pass and the conditions attaching to licences to use designations are contained in the
Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations 1959 and the Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963
to 1965.
Producers licences for "untreated" milk are granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food and dealers licences for the remaining designations are granted by the food and drugs
authority, i.e. London Borough of Hillingdon.
Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations 1959
The Milk (Special Designation) Regulations
The following premises are registered or licensed in the Borough:—
Registered Milk Distributors 140
Registered Dairies 2
Licences to use Special Designations:
(a) Pasteurised 89
(b) Sterilised 47
(c) Ultra-heat treated 23
(d) Untreated 16
Dealer's Licence (Pasteurised) 2