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The salmonella isolated in each of the above cases was Salmonella typhimurium phage
type U165.
POULTRY INSPECTION
All premises where poultry is dressed and packed are subject to inspection under the Food
and Drugs Act, 1955, and the premises and the procedures must comply with the Food Hygiene
(General) Regulations, 1960.
There is one poultry processing establishment operating in the Borough and this deals, in
the main, with birds which have been slaughtered and plucked at poultry slaughter houses outside
the district, activities being confined to evisceration, packing and freezing, etc. Any obviously
unfit birds are rejected at the point of slaughter and in accordance with the Ministry's advice,
those which show evidence of disease on evisceration are dealt with by trained members of the
operator's staff and the suspected carcass is retained for examination by the public health inspector.
Details of the poultry processed at this establishment are set out in the following table. Poultry
slaughter is carried out on an occasional basis at 11 farms within the Borough mainly during the
Christmas period and at this time of the year visits are made to supervise and advise on hygienic
practices. A total of 127 visits were made to poultry processing premises. Danger of unfit poultry
passing for human consumption by way of restaurants, etc., is great and is a point to which the
inspector has regard in carrying out routine inspections of the premises for the purpose of the
Food Hygiene Regulations.

INSPECTIONS OF OTHER FOOD
The trade regularly require advice and assistance in dealing with food which is unsound or
suspected of being unsound. Such conditions may result from refrigeration breakdown (the main
cause for food condemnation), damage during transit, contamination while awaiting sale, etc.
Food dealt with in this way is surrendered, stained to prevent the possibility of its being used for
human consumption, and disposed of by tipping and burial at a refuse tip. The total amount of
food surrendered for destruction during the year is set out on the following page.
COMPOSITION AND QUALITY
The provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955 and the multitude of Regulations made
thereunder are designed to ensure that food will not be harmful to the consumer's health, will
not be adulterated, will not be contaminated in any way and will be properly described in any
advertisements and on any labels. To ensure that food manufactured and on sale in the Borough
complies with the statutory requirements, surveillance is maintained and samples are purchased
for examination both by the Public Analyst and in the departmental laboratory. Quarterly returns
of the Public Analyst are submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food who also
require information on the action taken regarding any samples found to be unsatisfactory. Samples
may be taken formally, i.e. in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Act whereby the
sample is divided into three parts each part sealed and labelled, one part being submitted to the
Public Analyst, one retained by the Vendor and one by the Local Authority or informally. With
informal sampling a normal purchase is made and the sample submitted for examination. The
latter method is normally employed, formal action only being taken when an unsatisfactory result
has been obtained or an unsatisfactory result is anticipated.
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