[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Brentford and Chiswick].

  • Brentford and Chiswick (England). Borough Council.
Date:
[1952?]
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Brentford and Chiswick]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/58 (page 35)
    HYGIENE OF FOOD Bye-laws New Bye-laws on the Handling, Wrapping and Delivery of Food on the lines of the Model Bye-laws of the Ministry of Food, were brought into operation during 1951, and each food shop, food factory and catering establishment in the Borough was supplied with a copy. Catering Establishments The survey of all catering establishments in the Borough reported as having commenced in 1950 was completed during the first part of 1951. The total number of establishments inspected was 292 classified as follows:- Hotels and Inns 54 Cafes and Restaurants 86 Factory Canteens 76 Clubs 31 Snack Bars 28 School Canteens 15 Hospital Kitchens 2 It was found at these visits that 101 premises had conditions up to or above statutory standards leaving l8l requiring work to be done to bring them up to these standards. In 10 cases the businesses were discontinued. While no premises were of a grossly unsatisfactory nature, in many the elementary principles of care in food handling were not fully understood and the inspectors' visits were used for health education purposes in addition to inspection. Complete co-operation was obtained from the owners of the establishments and every facility given for inspection, and in many cases agreement was obtained to the provision of sanitary equipment far in excess of the statutory requirements. With the co-operation of the Education Officer and School Meals Organiser, the County Council's School Canteens were included in the Survey and any defects found either in premises or methods of handling food were discussed and suitable remedial action taken. It is a source of satisfaction that no statutory enforcement was needed in any case, and there is no doubt that personal discussions of problems and possibilities between the visiting inspector and the establishment owners are much more productive of improvements than formal service of statutory notices; if owners were compelled only to conform to these the wording is sufficiently vague to permit of very small improvements being sufficient to meet the legal requirements. A considerable number of the catering establishments were found to have an initial and fundamental handicap in that the space allocated to cooking and washing was very limited in relation to - 35 -