[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Twickenham].

  • Twickenham (London, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Twickenham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/64 (page 15)
    Clean Food Guild. Towards the end of 1949, the Corporation approved and supported the formation of the Clean Food Guild. The Guild was started by inviting traders from main branches of the food industry to a meeting; the project was warmly welcomed. The organisation is independent of the Corporation. It controls its own activities and finances through a Guild executive committee which consists of eleven food traders, six members of the Public Health Committee and one representative of the Food Control Committee. During the year the Guild has been in operation an executive committee meeting has been held once a month, at which the Chief Inspector or I have attended to give technical advice and help. We have drawn up codes of practice for each of the principal food trades. These codes deal with numerous matters such as cleanliness of rooms, ceilings, walls and floors, maintenance of furniture and equipment; drains, lighting, ventilation, and water supply; toilet and hand-washing facilities for staffs, toilet hygiene and cloakrooms; personal cleanliness, training and education of staff. They deal also with the storage and display of food, methods of handling food, wrapping, dish washing, smoking and illnesses of staff. The Guild has accepted these codes of practice as a standard to which all its members will comform. There are now 49 registered members in the Guild, and a further five applications waiting to be dealt with. Applications come in every month and those whose standards are high enough to warrant admission to the Guild are accepted on the recommendation of the Chief Inspector. There is no doubt about the enthusiasm and interest of the members; indeed they have contributed among themselves subscriptions varying from one to five guineas for the purpose of advancing the scheme. Bye-laws. The Corporation has recently made bye-laws which deal with the handling, wrapping and delivery of food. The bye-laws make legal requirements for preventing food infection by infected persons, or by dirty animals or insects. Food must be kept covered; counters, slabs, fittings and apparatus, utensils and crockery must be kept clean. Clean wrapping paper and clean delivery vehicles are required, and many allied matters. But no amount of legislation will ensure clean safe food unless the food handlers themselves adopt clean safe methods. The best way of achieving this is by education and persuasion. The Corporation have recently approved a training course for food handlers, in which they will be taught the principles of safe food handling. Other courses will follow in the future. The public can assist in this campaign by insisting on clean handling in all food establishments and by refusing to patronise traders whose methods are disreputable. In order to enable the public to understand the nature of the problems, the Guild has invited representatives from women's organisations in the town to attend Guild meetings from time to time; my staff and I have given public lectures, and the Guild, in co-operation with the health department, had a stand in the Twickenham Trades and Industries Fair last September. In all these ways we have tried to make the public aware of the differences between hygienic and unhygienic practices, and to object when they encounter bad methods in shops and restaurants. I would like to see all school children taught the elements of food hygiene and I would still more like to see all schools with the facilities and equipment necessary to practise it. 15