View report page

63
It was also possible, where this "breaking-down" process had
been carried too far, to plead a warranty, and where the dairyman
was in possession of a warranty it was a matter of the utmost
difficulty, if not an impossibility, to obtain a conviction, even
though it was known that the dairyman had also purchased separated
milk. The difficulty of obtaining direct evidence of the addition
of separated milk to ordinary milk was practically insurmountable.
Later legislation prohibited this practice.
In 1937 an advance was made in the protection of food from
contamination when bye-laws made by the London County Council
under Section 6 of the London County Council (General Powers)
Act, 1932 (later Section 183 of the Public Health (London) Act,
1936) for promoting sanitary and cleanly conditions in the manufacture,
preparation, storage, transport, or exposure for sale of
any article intended to be sold for food, came into operation on the
1st January, 1937, and extracts therefrom were circulated to
traders principally affected in the borough.
Although the bye-laws were not so comprehensive as might
have been desired or reasonably expected, they were a useful
addition in many respects to powers previously existing, in that
the definition of premises to which the bye-laws related was wide
and enabled local authorities to deal with yards, sheds and storages.
They also applied to stalls, vehicles, barrows, trays and other
receptacles from which food was sold, whereas the only stalls that
came within the scope of earlier bye-laws were those used by
licensed street traders. Food in the course of transportation was
dealt with in the bye-laws, control being given over food on delivery
vans, barrows, etc. The responsibility of occupiers of premises
where food was stored or dealt with was defined as the repairing,
cleansing, lighting and ventilation of the premises, also the
wrapping of food in unsuitable wrappers, as compared with the
less definite requirement of earlier legislation that ' 'due cleanliness
shall be observed." Similar responsibilities were imposed upon
the owners of stalls generally, thus giving a control which previously
did not exist, over unlicensed street traders.
Although these bye-laws marked another step towards the
ideal of complete protection of the food supply, we were still short
of this in many respects. For instance, despite requirements of the
bye-laws that persons exposing food for sale "shall take such steps
as may be reasonably necessary to prevent the risk of contamination
of the food," the sale of unwrapped food from open-fronted shops
and from stalls in the streets was still allowed. In my opinion
articles of food such as biscuits, cheese, butter and dates, should
not be sold where, in spite of all attempts at screening, the slightest
breeze would result in some contamination. As another instance,
the Council had frequently requested that the delivery of bread