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general improvement throughout the country has taken place. Health officials have,
however, considered that a greater control should he exercised and therefore welcomed
the Government's intention to introduce legislation containing more rigid Heasures.
Section 6 of the Pood & Drugs Amendment Act, 1954. gives the Ministers power to make
such regulations as appear to him to be expedient for securing the observance of
sanitary and cleanly conditions and practises in connection with the sale of food for
human consumption or the Importation, preparation, transport, storage, packaging,
wrapping, exposure for sale, service, or delivery of food intended for sale or sold
for human consumption.
Accordingly, in January, 1954, the Ministers of Health and Food, anting jointly,
issued a schedule of 67 proposals which it was hoped would be more appropriate to
modern needs and at the same time implement the recommendations of the Catering Trade
Working Party, the Manufactured Meats Products Working Party, and the Inter-Departmental
Committees on Meat Inspection.
The hotel and catering organisations, however, protested that the proposals were
too drastic and after several meetings with the Ministers concerned were successful In
convincing them of this. It is reported that of the 67 original proposals, only 22 now
remain and that a number of these are to be modified. Twenty seven of the proposals
discarded from the original draft have been included in a new code of practice which
caterers can adopt or not, as they think fit. The code does not form part of the
regulations and has no legal force.
Pood handlers are to take "such steps as may be reasonably necessary" to prevent
the risk of contamination of food. They are not specifically required to dress cuts and
sores, to refrain from spitting, smoking and to wear clean protective over-clothing.
Health officials, generally, wire bitterly disappointed that most of the essential
clauses in the draft regulations had not been adopted and it was felt that the cause of
clean food had received a serious set-back.
MILK - CAPPING OF BOTTLES.
On the 1st of October, 1954, under the provisions of the Milk (Special Designations)
{Pasteurised and Sterilised) (Amendment) Regulations, 1953, it became compulsory to use
overlapping caps on bottles of milk, thereby rendering it illegal for dair-jmen to use
sunken cardboard discs on wide-necked bottles which had been in use for many years. The
disadvantages of the latter type were that dirt and dust would lodge on the surface of the
discs and that they were frequently fouled by dogs when left on doorsteps.
These Regulations had the effect of preventing the small dairyman from bottling milk
on his own premises as he had not the necessary equipment to seal the bottles with overlapping
metal caps. The present milk supply into the Borough is now frost several firms all
of whom are equipped with such machinery. However much one may sympathise with the owners
of small one-man bottling establishments, this was undoubtedly a great step towards ensuring
that clean and wholesome bottled milk was delivered to the housewife.
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