London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Malden and Coombe 1949

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Malden & Coombe]

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recommendation by the Public Analyst a prosecution was not instituted.
The second formal sample shown to be below standard was one taken
at the place of delivery and revealed a very slight deficiency in solids
not fat. The fat content was well above the permitted minimum and
the freezing test did not indicate the presence of added water. Except
that the wholesalers attention was drawn to this incident, no further
action was taken beyond obtaining a number of follow-up samples
which all proved genuine.
Cocoa. This was a minor labelling matter only, the cocoa itself
being entirely satisfactory.
Malt Vinegar. One sample of malt vinegar contained 0.9% of
salt. Salt is not a natural ingredient of malt vinegar and the analyst
had, therefore, no alternative but to report adversely on this sample.
In view of the fact that the Ministry of Food gave certain manufacturers
of malt vinegar a special temporary dispensation to add, without
declaration, a small quantity of salt to help preserve the vinegar, no
further action was taken.
MILK.
During the year one Act of Parliament and three new sets
of Regulations affecting milk came into force. To attempt
even to summarise these within the space of this report would
be difficult and I can only, therefore, give a few notes regarding
them. All came into operation on the 1st October, 1949.
The Milk (Special Designations) Act is described as an Act to
render compulsory the use of special designations on sales of
milk by retail in specified areas; to enact certain provisions
ancillary thereto as to the use of such designations and to
amend certain enactments in relation to such designations.
Section 1 of the Act states that the use of a special designation
shall be obligatory for the purpose of all sales of milk by retail
for human consumption where the place of sale is a "specified
area". The Minister of Food is given power under Section 5
at any time to make an order declaring any area to be a
"specified area". It will be seen, therefore that in such an
area the status of designated milk will be completely altered
from an article which a dairyman may sell or not as he likes
into one which he must sell and it alone.
The Milk and Dairies Regulations, 1949 re-enact, with
amendments, similar Regulations 1926—1943 and affect administration
so far as this district is concerned but little. The
principal changes are consequent on the provisions of the Food
and Drugs (Milk and Dairies) Act, 1944 and the Agriculture
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1949. As, however, there are
now no dairy farms in this district these do not affect our local
administration. There are a number of minor changes in the
Regulations relating to buildings, the cleansing of vessels and
utensils and the distribution of milk and its protection against
contamination and infection with disease. In particular