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Cold water supplies provided, repaired or improved 2
Hot water supplies provided, repaired or improved 2
Water closets provided, repaired or improved 5
Washing facilities provided or improved 4
Drainage provided or repaired 21
Dustbins provided 8
Yards paved or repaired 2
Walls and ceilings repaired or cleansed 45
Floors repaired 5
Premises cleansed 8
Protection of foodstuffs enforced 6
Equipment repaired or improved 9
Nuisances abated and other action 4
As far as possible, the plans of all premises which will be associated with the preparation and
sale of food are examined by this Department. In this way, it is possible to influence the standard of
premises and equipment and we welcome consultations. While structural improvements, suitable equipment
and adequate sanitary and washing facilities all contribute towards clean food, the really important
matter is the exercise of strict personal hygiene by all employed in the trade.
Man is the source of most food infections. The germs lurk in the nose and throat or bowel, and
are conveyed to food by the hands. "It is time someone said quite shortly and plainly that there would
be much less need for food control if everyone took care to wash their hands thoroughly after visiting
the toilet." "From the point of view of personal hygiene, the problem is simple, as scrupulous care to
avoid contamination by hands from bowel, nose and throat, and the avoidance of coughing, sneezing
and smoking while preparing food will have the desired effect." The enforcement of a code of practice
in all the variety of places and circumstances in which food is stored, handled and prepared is very
difficult, but if food poisoning is to be prevented, the essentials of personal and kitchen hygiene must
be appreciated and practised by all concerned.
Nutrition.— The surveys carried out throughout the country by the Ministry of Health and all
available local evidence fail to produce definite evidence of malnutrition.
Under the Welfare (Foods) Scheme of the Ministry of Food, vitamin supplements are available
free or at low cost to expectant and nursing mothers and to children under the age of five years.
It is possible to calculate what the average weekly consumption of these vitamin supplements should be
if full advantage was taken of the scheme, and such details are published at intervals by the Ministry
of Food. The actual issues in the Borough, expressed as a percentage of the possible issue, for two
periods of 1953 are shown below:—
Orange Juice Cod Liver Oil tablets'*
13 weeks to 28/2/53 36.1 27.8 40.0
13 weeks to 30/5/53 38.4 25.9 36.3
There has been an appreciable fall compared with corresponding periods in 1952.
Milk is available free to all school children. Meals at a low cost, or free if the family circumstances
warrant it, are provided at all schools maintained by the Education Authority. Checks made by the
Education Department at various times show, as under, the extent to which advantage is taken of this
provision of milk and meals:—
No. of % %
pupils taking taking
present milk meals
October, 1952 12,832 81.1 53.3
June, 1953 12,954 92.1 40.2
October, 1953 13,375 92.4 40.7
In Ministry of Food Bulletins No. 701 and No. 749, tables show the sources from which supplies
of the main foods and feeding stuffs in the United Kingdom were derived before the war, in 1951, 1952
and 1953. The following information has been extracted from these tables: —
Supplies Available ('000 tons)
Pre-war 1951 1952 1953
Wheat and flour 6,361 6,301 6,050 6,215
Oats 2,057 2,722 2,907 2,931
Barley 1,654 3,152 3,466 3,957
Sugar 2,480 2,747 2,560 3,475
Carcase meat and offal 2,160 1,457 1,581 1,879
Bacon and ham 561 436 537 569
Butter 526 323 274 305
Cheese 186 238 192 234
Eggs in shell 547 571 540 594
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