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14
in the district with the co-operation of the local authority.
Combined with:—
2. The strict enforcement of food hygiene within the limits
of the Council's statutory powers.
These measures, if effectively combined, should permit the
attainment of an even higher standard than could be reached solely
by the use of existing statutory powers which depend to so great an
extent upon the interpretation of the words "reasonable and
sufficient," as vised in the Food and Drugs Act, 1938.
In order to carry out these measures, however, it is essential
that sufficient sanitary inspectors are available to give food premises
the necessary supervision to ensure that a reasonable standard of
food hygiene is maintained. Unfortunately, so far as this Borough
is concerned, it is impossible to undertake the satisfactory supervision
of food premises generally with the two food inspectors
available, who are fully occupied with sampling, the supervision
of certain registered trades such as milk and ice-cream, complaints
of unsound food and the street markets, etc.; while at the same
time the enormous increase in the work of the district sanitary
inspectors precludes the possibility of utilising these inspectors
adequately for this purpose.
With a view to improving the condition of food premises in
Hackney, a memorandum was prepared and submitted to the
Public Health Committee, setting out proposals for the formation
of a clean food guild and also reducing the size of the sanitary
districts by the division of the Borough into 17 sanitary districts
as compared with the existing 14, and increasing the number of
sanitary inspectors by four, one of the sanitary inspectors to be a
woman, so as to enable the district inspectors to give greater assistance
in the inspection of food premises. I am pleased to be able to
report that the proposals contained in the memorandum were
adopted by the Committee and arrangements were made to appoint
the additional staff when sanitary inspectors become available.
It is hoped that it will be possible to give full effect to the proposals
in the new year.
Another step towards bringing about improvements in the food
position was taken in October, when the Ministry of Health issued
for the guidance of local authorities, Model Bye-laws for the protection
of food. The Bye-laws are in general terms and are designed
to apply to all branches of the food trade, but many provisions
which one would like to have seen given legal backing have had to
be omitted because of the present shortage of materials and equipment.
The adoption of these Bye-laws is not compulsory but they