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Environmental Health
81
Where the number of organisms present is considered excessive, having regard to the nature of
the food, state of preparation, etc., the sample is classified as suspicious or unsatisfactory and it is
regrettable that out of the fifty-nine samples taken, twenty were so classified.
Unsatisfactory reports are the subject of thorough investigation and enquiry into the methods
used in preparation and storage and follow-up sampling is carried out.
Swabbing of Equipment
The use of the sausage technique for checking the effectiveness of equipment and utensil cleaning
continued during the year on an extended scale.
Medium, in the form of a sausage, is pressed against the surface under investigation and a slice
taken from the sausage is subsequently incubated in the Department's laboratory. The resulting
colony count is an indication of the number of organisms present. It is particularly effective when
used before and after cleaning and is helpful in instructing staff in the elementary principles of hygiene.
Food Hygiene Talks and Publicity
During the year talks, illustrated in some cases by films and film strips, were given to groups
of food handlers employed by the school meals and hospital services.
The "Welcome to Citizenship Exhibition" and the exhibition staged at the Hillingdon Borough
Show, provided further opportunity for publicising the work of the department in this field.
Legal Proceedings
When informal action fails to produce an improvement in unsatisfactory standards or where
blatant or repeated contraventions of the Food Hygiene Regulations occur there is no alternative
to recommending the institution of legal proceedings.
Proceedings were instituted against the proprietor of a restaurant when food in his kitchen was
found to be contaminated with mouse droppings. He was fined a total of £200 with £52 10s. Od. costs.
It was the second occasion on which this particular person had been prosecuted for hygiene offences
and he later sold his interest in the business.
Fines and costs totalling £65 16s. Od. were imposed on four persons and one Company in respect
of offences for smoking while handling food and for permitting the offences. Two partners in a greengrocery
business were each fined £15 and £4 4s. Od. costs for displaying vegetables lower than 18 inches
from the ground and for allowing the yard at the rear of their premises to be in an insanitary condition.