114. Mr. De la Bèreasked the Minister of Food whether, in view of the disclosure of the fact that there were 5,329 cases of food poisoning notified to the medical officers of health in the period 1st January to 30th September, 1950, he will now confer with the Minister of Health with a view to ensuring for the future that every safeguard is effectively exercised and with the local authorities to encourage the setting up of clean food guilds.
§ Mr. F. WilleyThese figures emphasise the importance of a high standard of cleanliness and scrupulous care in the handling and preparation of food by traders and the public. We are very closely and actively in touch with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health on the problem; but its solution depends as much on a wider awareness of the need for care as on official safeguards.
Clean food guilds are one of a number of useful ways for developing a more general understanding of this problem. I shall not myself regard the situation as thoroughly satisfactory until we have established much higher standards of cleanliness throughout the food trades.