[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Halesowen Borough.

  • Halesowen (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Halesowen Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    FOOD SAMPLING. Although not a Food & Drugs authority, considerable interest is taken in sampling foods and 106 samples were submitted for analysis. These included: — Milk 23 Custard ] Ice-cream 46 Baking Powder 1 Tinned Meat 2 Sago 6 Artificial flavouring 7 Mineral Water 1 Condiments 5 Preservatives 5 Medicinal products 4 Tapioca 4 ICE-CREAM. The following registrations were in force at the end of 1948 in respect of ice-cream: — Registration for manufacture, storage and sale 14 Registration for sale only 23 AT the manufacturers are on a small scale, and on]y make ice-cream as a subsidiary interest, usually to the sale of sweets or confectionery. With two exceptions the cold mix method is used. The premises were as satisfactory as it is possible to ensure within the limits of existing legislation. The table below indicates the result of samples taken and examined in accordance with the methylene blue test. It should be explained that the methylene blue test is an examination for defining four grades of bacterial cleanliness, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4. Since it is unwise for various reasons to pay too much attention to the result of any one sample, 50 per cent of samples from any particular vendor throughout the year should fall into Grade 1, 80 per cent into Grades 1 or 2, not more than 20 per cent into Grade 3, and none into Grade 4. Number of Samples Grade 27 1 4 2 7 3 8 Not graded. There was considerable variation in the amount of fat found to be present in the samples but as there is no legal standard for ice-cream, no official action could be taken even where the amount was considered unduly low. It was significant that on one occasion