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Services under the food and drugs legislation
It is perhaps in this field that I am most concerned over the
shortages of staff within the section. The food and drugs
legislation lays down the Council's responsibilities of control
over the fitness of food for human consumption which is
sold throughout the borough and the manner in which it is
handled and stored prior to sale. This control is normally
exercised by periodic inspections by the inspectorate and it
will be seen that the number of routine visits to food
premises has dropped from 8,610 visits in 1970 to 2,260
visits in the year under review.
Milk
Persons selling milk within the Borough must be registered
as distributors in accordance with the Milk and Dairies
(General) Regulations, 1959 and the number of persons so
registered is 167, a rise of 21 upon the previous year. This
rise reflects a continuing trend for milk to be sold by grocers
shops, supermarkets, and what were previously considered
unlikely places such as greengrocers etc. This trend may
reflect the change in type of occupation of the area, in that
with the growth of multiple occupation, more people are
buying their milk as part of their groceries and not relying
upon deliveries in the traditional manner.
Licences are required in order that milk may be treated
or that designated milk may be sold. These licences are
issued under the Milk (Special Designation) Regulations,
1965 as amended, for a five yearly period, the current
period expiring on 31st December, 1975. The following
licences are in operation:—
Dealer's (Pasteuriser's) licence 1
Dealer's (Pre-packed) licences
Pasteurised milk 139
Sterilised milk 69
Ultra heat treated milk 72
Untreated milk 5
Samples of milk taken during the year and submitted to
the public health laboratory include: —
No. of samples Unsatisfactory
Pasteurised 18 2
Ultra heat treated 1 Nil
Investigations of the two unsatisfactory samples revealed
the cause to be related to excessive storage time at retail
shops and action was taken to prevent a recurrence.
Raw milk samples from the farms supplying milk to the
bottling plant in the borough were taken by arrangement
with the dairy. Now that all milk movements into the
processing dairy are by bulk tankers, samples have to be
sent from the farms of which there are over 200 supplying
the dairy. 54 such samples were examined by the
Pathology Department of Harefield Hospital for the
presence of brucella abortus and tubercle bacilli, none were
found to contain tubercle bacilli but 12 were found to
contain brucella organisms. These findings were referred to
the districts of origin for appropriate action as there is no
risk to the consumer in this area (all the milk emanating
from the dairy is heat treated).
Regulation 27 of the Milk and Dairies (General)
Regulations, 1959 requires that any milk container shall be
in a thorough state of cleanliness prior to being filled.
15 complaints of dirty milk bottles were received during the
year of which 5 resulted in the institution of legal
proceedings. Fines and costs totalling £225.50 were
imposed by the courts and the Committees instructed
warning letters to be sent in two further cases.
Ice cream
During the year 220 samples of ice cream were submitted
for bacteriological examination to the Public Health
Laboratory. The results were as follows:—
Grade I 147
Grade II 37
Grade III 17
Grade IV 19
(Those listed under Grades III and IV are considered to
be unsatisfactory).
In each case where an unsatisfactory grading was
obtained in respect of a sample, detailed advice was given
to the vendor by a public health inspector visiting the
premises.
The samples were obtained from premises either
manufacturing ice cream (of which there are two) or
premises selling or using ice cream. The premises which
manufacture, store or sell ice cream are required to register
with the local authority but where ice cream is used as part
of a meal, such as restaurants etc. no registration is required.
It is towards this category that special emphasis has been
given, as it is considered that extra risk may arise due to the
slower stock movement and the extra handling that can
occurr when serving ice cream from bulk containers. It was
noted that during the year retail shops were tending to
return to the use of the scoop to sell ice cream from bulk
and all such premises were regularly visited and advised as
to correct handling of the product.
Food premises
Certain food premises have to be registered under section
16, Food and Drugs Act, 1955 and must comply with Food
Hygiene legislation before they can be registered.
The premises so registered are as follows:—
Manufacture, storage or sale of ice cream 371
Preparation or manufacture of sausages 17
Preparation or manufacture of potted, pressed,
pickled or preserved food and or manufacture of
sausages 143
A trend to be noted here is a reduction of 12 premises
from the previous year who are registered for the
manufacture of sausages thus indicating the movement away
from the locally produced sausage towards that of the large
manufacturers.
Other premises where food is stored or handled etc. are
listed below. These received a total of 2,260 visits by public
health inspectors during the course of the year.
60