[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Lowestoft Borough and Port.

  • Lowestoft (England). Borough & Port Council.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Lowestoft Borough and Port. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/44 (page 21)
    Butter (including cocoa butter). . . 91- cwts. Cereals . . . . . 5 pkts. Cheese and cheese products . . 179 lbs. Cream . . . . . 37 tins Creamed Rice . . . . 15 tins Fish (canned) . . . . 440 tins Fish (fresh) . . . . . 48 stones Frozen Chickens . . . . 110 lbs. Fruit Canned . . . . 1,971 tins Fresh Fruit and Vegetables . . . 2 tons Meat and meat products (canned) . . 559 tins Meat and meat products (fresh) . . 1,320 lbs. Milk canned . . . . 187 tins Puddings, etc. . . . . 148 tins Soups . . . . . 412 tins Tomatoes (canned) . . . . 318 tins Vegetables (canned) . 992 tins Total weight approximately 5 tons 14 cwts. The reasons for condemnation included damaged or unsound tins, decomposition of fresh food stuffs due to delays in transit, health risks due to frozen foods thawing out after refrigerator breakdowns, con¬ tamination of loose food stuffs in transit by rail and sea, etc. FOOD HYGIENE No serious case of neglectful maintenance of food premises was found during the year but concern was felt about the number of complaints received concerning the sale of mouldy wrapped food stuffs and meat pies. In any warm spell of weather, and particularly during 1967 which was notable for long periods of settled weather, many wrapped types of cake and pies are particularly prone to develop mould growth if kept too long before retail sale. The safe period varies according to the type of food stuff. With few exceptions manu¬ facturers inform their retail outlets of this shelf life so that it is then up to retailers to rotate their stock accordingly and reduce purchases to meet the strict demands of their trade day to day or week to week. I sent a circular letter to all food traders in July concerning the care of meat pies, bringing the above points to their particular notice. A further case of a mouldy sausage roll resulted in the retailer being prosecuted by the Council and the Magistrates after finding the case proven imposed fines on the defendant. All mobile food traders operating in the Borough were sent a summary of the Food Hygiene (Markets, Stalls, and Delivery Vehicles) Regu¬ lations. Only a limited amount of follow up work has been possible in this field. There will be a big improvement in the toilet and washing facilities available for stall holders at Old Market Plain when the Council build a proposed new public convenience. Up to the present, although washing facilities are provided in the existing block, one is far from satisfied with existing arrangements.