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29.
Pork Pie. A complaint was received of mould growth in a port pie sold
from a public house. A warning letter was sent to the retailer concerned.
Milk. A complaint was received of foreign matter in a bottle of school
milk. This was identified as black crayon similar to crayon used at the
school and no action was taken.
Tinned Vegetables. A school canteen supervisor complained of an acrid
odour given off in cooking mixed diced vegetables including carrots, turnips
and swedes. The food was surrendered and destroyed. The Public Analyst
examined samples and reported that there was some abnormality in the taste
of the turnip. He also stated that an abnormal bitter flavour in turnips
and some other root crops is not uncommon.
Sausage. A complaint was received of foreign matter in a sausage. This
was identified as bakelite and a warning letter was sent to the manufacturers.
Pork Pie. A complaint was received of mould growth in a pork pie, but
having regard to all the circumstances a warning letter was sent to the
retailer.
A number of complaints relating to milk and other foods were
referred to the districts concerned.
ICE CREAM
Thirty-eight samples were submitted to the methylene blue test and
all were placed in grade I. The methylene blue test does not provide
a guarantee of safety but it does serve as a simple and practical method
of grading ice-cream according to its degree of bacterial cleanliness and
samples which consistently fail to reach grades I or II give reasonable
grounds to indicate defects in manufacture or handling requiring further
investigation. The certificate giving the results of testing has the
following note appended:
"Owing to the numerous factors governing the hygienic quality
of ice-cream it is unwise to pay too much attention to the
bacteriological results of any single sample. Judgement should
be based rather on a series of samples. It is suggested over a
six monthly period 50 Per cent of vendors samples should fall into
grade I, 80 per cent into grades I or II, not more than 20 per cent
into grade III and none into grade IV".