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Section 9.- Sale of Food Unfit for Human Consumption.
Complaints were received in respect of the following foreign matters
found in food:—
Edible oil in loaf of bread.
Edible white oil in loaf of bread.
Wholemeal flour of previous mix in loaf of bread.
Wasp in loaf of bread.
Nail in loaf of bread.
Cigarette end in loaf of bread.
Maggots in barley.
Fly in cheese.
Fly in ice lolly.
Hairpin in jelly crystals.
String in milk.
Glass in milk.
Sediment in milk
Green vegetable matter in milk.
Poppy head in peas.
Soda in sugar.
Metal staple in loaf of bread.
Glass in pastry.
The evidence in such cases is frequently insufficient clearly to
indicate the point in the sequence of events at which the foreign matter
was introduced, but, where there was reasonable cause to believe that
it occurred before sale, appropriate action was taken including, where
warranted, legal proceedings.
Arising out of these incidents, the following 4 prosecutions were
taken under Section 9 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, against the
vendors for selling food unfit for human consumption:—
Bread containing Metal Staple.
The vendors pleaded guilty but the case was dismissed under the
Probation of Offenders Act. The vendors were ordered to pay costs
of £2 16s. 6d.
Apple Pie containing Glass.
The vendors were convicted and fined £10 with 4 guineas costs.
Iced Lolly containing Fly.
Vendors were discharged under the provisions of the Criminal
Justice Act, 1948, and ordered to pay 3 guineas costs.
Bread containing Cigarette End.
The vendor was convicted and fined £25 and 3 guineas costs.
Our local experience of numerous instances of contamination of
foodstuffs intended for public sale has shown that the fault lies in many
cases with the individual food handler. Until he can be educated to
a sense of his public responsibility and accepts for himself a high hygienic
code of personal conduct, prosecution of the employer is likely to achieve
little.
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