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SECTION 15 (By-laws as to handling and sale of food). The By-laws relating
to the handling, wrapping, etc., of food and sale of food in the open air made
by the London County Council in 1952, continue to be operative, but since
the coming into operation of the Pood Hygiene Regulations, 1955, action is
rarely taken under the By-laws.
SECTION 16 (Registration of premises - manufacture and sale of ice-cream arid
of sausages, etc.). This section provides that no premises shall be used
for the sale, or the manufacture for the purpose of sale, of ice-cream, or the
storage of ice-cream intended for sale, or the preparation or manufacture of
sausages or potted, pressed, pickled or preserved food intended for sale
unless they are registered under this section for that purpose by the local
authority
Two prosecutions were taken for selling ice-cream at premises not
registered under this section with the following results:-
Fines Costs
£ s. d, £ s. d
(i) Sold ice-cream at premises not Conditional 10 0
registered for that purpose. discharge
(ii) Sold ice-cream at premises not 10 0 2 2 0
registered for that purpose.
(a) ICE CREAM. New applications to the number of twenty-seven for the sale
of ice-cream were approved; one application was refused, following the
Council's practice not to register for this purpose premises in which greengrocery
is sold At the end of the year the premises of 416 retailers and ten
manufacturers were registered Some 117 samples of ice-cream were submitted
to the Public Health Laboratory service for Methylene Blue Test, and were
reported on as follows:
Grade 1-82
Grade 2-19
Grade 3 - 10
Grade 4 - 6
In the Appendix attached to Circular 8/59 dealing with the Ice Cream
(Heat Treatment etc. ) Regulations, 1959, the Minister states he is satisfied
that no available bacteriological test for ice-cream is precise enough to be
made statutory. He recommends that local authorities should continue to look
to the Methylene Blue Test for a provisional measurement of the bacterial
cleanliness of ice-cream He goes on to say that this test affords a simple
and valuable means for routine grading and has proved useful in indicating
the circumstances in which further investigation is called for into the
practices of manufacturers, distributors and retailers It is emphasised that
bacteriological examination of samples of ice-cream is only one of several
means of investigation which the health officer should apply
The majority of samples from any one producer should fall into Grade 1 or
Grade 2 If too many samples fall into Grade 2, cultures should be made to
identify the prevalent organism. Organisms which are resistant to pasteurization
may accumulate in the plant, and its thorough cleansing and sterilization
may well be sufficient to remedy the trouble.
In endeavouring to identify the cause or causes of repeated low gradings,
serial samples should be taken systematically along the production line; each
section of the plant should be carefully inspected following dismantling and
cleansing, and methods of handling should be carefully watched
Where the ice-cream is of a satisfactory bacterial standard on leaving the
Producer, it should be followed up along the lines of distribution and
retailing to the point at which poor results are being obtained