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Ice Cream
The production, composition, labelling, storage and sale of ice cream is controlled by the
Food and Drugs Act, 1955, The Ice Cream (Heat Treatment, etc.) Regulations, 1959 and 1963,
The Labelling of Food Order, 1953, The Food Hygiene (General) Regulations, 1960 and, in the
case of a stall, The Food Hygiene (Markets Stalls and Delivery Vehicles) Regulations, 1966, all
of which are enforced by the public health inspectors. Premises used for the manufacture, storage
or sale of ice cream are registered by the local authority in accordance with Section 16 of the
Food and Drugs Act, 1955, registration being subject to the premises complying fully with the
requirements of the Food Hygiene Regulations and generally being suitable for the purpose.
432 premises are registered for the storage and sale of ice cream. Ice cream is classed as soft or
hard, the former is a product from a specially designed machine which produces the ice cream
at the point of sale, the equipment being installed on some sales vehicles and in a small number
of shops within the Borough. Hard ice cream forms the bulk of the ice cream sold in the area and
is supplied either in the individual packs or dispensed from containers of varying capacity. The
hard ice cream produced by the major manufacturers gives no cause for concern. Any failures of
the statutory test invariably result from the methods of storing and handling during sale. There is
no prescribed statutory bacteriological standard of cleanliness for ice cream but, in accordance
with the recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food the methylene blue
test is used for the provisional assessment of the bacterial cleanliness of ice cream. This allows
for the routine grading of the product and is useful in indicating where further investigation into
the practices of the manufacturers, distributors and retailers, is required.

Ice lollies normally have a pH of less than 4.5 and are so acid that few bacteria will multiply
or even survive. Determination of the pH value is carried out in the Department's laboratory.
Three ice lollies were tested for pH value and all were found to be satisfactory.
MEAT
The Meat Inspection Regulations, 1963-1966 require that, before removal the carcasses,
parts of carcasses and offal of animals slaughtered for sale for human consumption must be
inspected. The carcass inspected and passed fit for human consumption cannot be removed until
it has been marked by the Inspector and for this purpose a stamp which identifies the Inspector
using it, is applied. Detailed instructions for the inspection of carcasses are contained in the
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