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For bacteriological work laboratories maintained
by the Public Health Laboratory Service continue to
be used, and for specialist examination of raw milk
for the presence of tubercle bacilli and brucella
abortus, the services of E Nassau Esq MD, consultant
pathologist at Harefield Hospital, are retained. Milk
is not produced in the borough and these services will
be used for checking raw milk brought in for
processing at one pasteurising dairy.
All matters relating to the composition and fitness
of food for human consumption now fall within the
purview of the Health Committee and routine sampling
is undertaken by the public health inspectors. Close
liaison is maintained with officers of a newly created
Consumer Protection Department, ensuring an
exchange of useful information on matters of
significance to both departments, such for example,
as administration of the Merchandise Marks and
similar Acts which, though enacted for a different
purpose, are often closely related to Food and Drugs
Act work where foodstuffs are concerned.
There are no slaughterhouses, abattoirs or knackers'
yards in the borough. One wholesale fruit and
vegetable market is managed by the borough council.
A total of 5,088 inspections of premises where food
is handled were made during the year.
During the reorganisation period service was
maintained in dealing with unfit foodstuffs and with
contraventions of section 2 of the Act, while routine
sampling duties were resumed after the appointment
of a public analyst, and by the end of the year were
gaining momentum.
There are no egg pasteurising plants in the borough.
68 complaints of allegedly unsound food were
investigated but of these 21 were not substantiated.
Foreign bodies and mould growths are the most
frequent causes of complaint, the former usually due
to mechanised handling and packing in spite of the
most modern inspection devices, and the latter to
faulty stock rotation.
An offence can seldom be proved when several
days have elapsed between the sale of a perishable
article and the lodging of a complaint, but appropriate
informal action is taken after thorough investigation.
During the year formal warnings were issued on
the instructions of the Health Committee in the
following cases—
metal in loaf, wood splinter in loaf, foreign body
90
in corned beef, foreign body in cake, rag in potato
crisps, feather in sausage roll, and string in currant
bun.
Legal proceedings were instituted in six cases, with
the following results—
Fine Costs
Mouldy bread roll £20 £5 5 0
Cotton fibres in bread £10 £5 5 0
Mouldy jam sandwich (sale) £10 £5 5 0
Mouldy jam sandwich
(exposure for sale) £10
Mouldy doughnuts £20 £8 8 0
Mouldy meat pie £20 £3 3 0
Mouldy cheese slices £10 £5 5 0
In one other case involving unsound chicken
portions, legal proceedings were authorised but had
to be abandoned on the disappearance of the
purchaser, whose evidence was indispensable.
During the year the following quantities of a
variety of foods were surrendered and condemned as
unfit for human consumption: 30,349 lbs, 11,958
tins, 8,269 packets including 4,082 packets of frozen
foods.
Milk—Eleven complaints were received about
allegedly dirty milk bottles. One was found to be due
to an optical illusion caused by a flaw in the glass,
another was due to the moulding of a piece of
coloured glass resembling a leech in the bottom of
the bottle. Four official warnings were issued on the
instructions of the Health Committee, and the
remaining five cases, in the absence of adequate
proof, were dealt with informally. Milk processors
have a heavy responsibility in avoiding contraventions
of Article 27 of the Milk and Dairies (General)
Regulations 1959, especially in dealing with bottles
which have been misused or detained for long periods
by customers. Only unremitting vigilance by those in
the dairy and on the round who handle empty or
filled bottles can ensure that no dirty or otherwise
unsatisfactory bottle is overlooked.
Ice-cream—36 samples were taken for
bacteriological examination of which 30 were
satisfactory, two doubtful and four unsatisfactory,
Five of the six unsatisfactory or doubtful samples
were of soft ice-cream. Steps were taken to secure a
remedy of unsatisfactory conditions and subsequent
samples were reported as satisfactory.