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46
meat is preserved, or pickled have to be registered, but as they
all (with the exception of dairies) are required to satisfy the other
requirements of the Food and Drugs Act it would appear to be
necessary for all but the smallest authorities to have a list of all
places where food is sold, just as they have for dwelling-houses
for the purposes of inspection under the Public Health Acts. Most
medical officers of health report to their councils the number of
dairy premises in the district and the number of inspections made.
It is suggested, that in order to inform their councils of the amount
of inspection work required, particularly if extra staff is needed,
medical officers would be well advised to do the same for other
food premises. Most councils are probably quite unaware of the
magnitude of the task.
Criticisms have sometimes been made that the existing requirements
in the Food and Drugs Act are not sufficiently precise to
enable local authorities to secure convictions except in cases of
gross contravention, though there is an obvious difficulty in making
detailed statutory provisions which must apply to eating places
of every sort and kind. The Ministry would, however, be glad
to have particulars of instances where difficulties of this kind have
been experienced.
March, 1947.