London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hillingdon 1969
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
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88
Environmental Health
Food Complaints
The number of food complaints received during the year again increased, the total being 181 as against 155 for 1968 and 114 for 1967.
| Food | Nature of Complaint | Type of foreign body found | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign matter | Mould | ||
| Milk | 6 | 7 | Dirty milk bottles, etc. Wire |
| Butter | 2 | 1 | |
| Cheese | — | 5 | |
| Bread | 24 | 12 | Piece of plastic, insects, uncooked dough carbon deposits, paint, edible oil, glass, part of knife blade, insect |
| Canned meat | 2 | 5 | Fly, wood |
| Cooked meat and meat product | 1 | 4 | Hide |
| Meat pies | 4 | 9 | Nail, pork rind, aluminium particles, sweet wrapper |
| Fish | 1 | 2 | Worm |
| Fruit | 1 | 4 | Glass |
| Vegetables | 2 | 2 | Worm, stones |
| Cereals | 2 | — | Insects |
| Sweets | 3 | 3 | String, insects, metal |
| Confectionery | 5 | 8 | Bolt, metal link, insects |
| Other foods | 13 | 22 | Metal, potato roots, glass, larvae |
A further 31 complaints were investigated relating chiefly to the general quality of food stuffs.
Legal proceedings were instituted in 14 cases, resulting in 49 convictions under Section 2 of the Food
and Drugs Act, 1955 (Food not of the nature, substance or quality demanded) and 3 under Section 8
(Unfit for human consumption) and 1 under Regulation 27 Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations,
1959. One prosecution under Section 2 of the Food and Drugs Act was dismissed. Fines and costs
totalling £216 13s. Od. were imposed.
Two of the cases taken under Section 8, Food and Drugs Act concerned items of food found
during an inspection of a restaurant kitchen. Further prosecutions were in respect of a knife blade
in a loaf of bread, bird droppings in a loaf, and a piece of metal in a bar of chocolate. A firm supplying
food by way of a vending machine were prosecuted on two occasions in respect of mouldy goods
bought from the machine.
PORT SANITARY ADMINISTRATION—LONDON (HEATHROW) AIRPORT
Inspection of Imported Food
The Imported Food Regulations require that all food imported is fit for human consumption
and that meat and meat products are accompanied by an Official Certificate from the country of
origin which ensures that the meat or the meat from which the product has been manufactured has
been derived from animals inspected before and after death in accordance with criteria satisfactory
to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and that the dressing, preparation and packing