Provisions as to rooms where food intended for sale is prepared or stored, etc

(1) Subject to sub-section (2), the following provisions shall have effect in relation to every room in which any food intended for human consumption, other than milk, is prepared for sale or sold, or offered or exposed for sale, or deposited for the purpose of sale or of preparation for sale, that is to say– (a) no sanitary convenience, dustbin or ash- pit shall be within, or communicate directly with, the room, or be so placed that offensive odours therefrom can penetrate into the room; (b) no cistern for the supply of water to the room shall be in direct communication with, or discharge directly into, a sanitary convenience, and there shall not be within the room any outlet for the ventilation of a drain or, except with the approval of the local authority, an inlet into any drain conveying sewage or foul 28 (c) the walls, ceiling, floor, windows and doors of the room shall be kept in a proper state of repair; (d) the walls, ceiling and doors of the room shall be painted, whitewashed, cleansed or purified as often as may be necessary to keep them clean and the windows of the room shall be kept clean; (e) the room shall not be used as a sleeping place and, so far as may be necessary to prevent risk of infection or contamination of food in the room, no sleeping place adjoining the room shall communicate therewith except through the open air, or through an intervening ventilated space; (f) except in the case of an artificially refrigerated room, suitable and sufficient means of ventilation shall be provided and suitable and sufficient ventilation shall be maintained; (g) no refuse or filth, whether solid or liquid, shall be deposited or allowed to accumulate in the room, except so far as may be necessary for the proper carrying on of the trade or business for which the room is used, and the floor of the room shall be cleansed as often as may be necessary to keep it clean; (h) cleanliness shall be observed by persons employed in the room, both in regard to the room, and all articles, apparatus and utensils therein, and in regard to themselves and their clothing; 29 (i) there shall be provided in, or within reasonable distance of, the room, a suitable washing basin or basins and a sufficient supply of soap, clean towels and clean water for the use of persons employed in the room; and (j) a certificate signed by the medical officer of health containing the names of the persons employed in the preparation of food in any such room shall be posted up at a conspicuous place in such room, and it shall not be lawful for any person whose name does not appear therein to be in any such room during the time when any food is being prepared. (2) Sub-section (1)(i) and (j) shall not apply in relation to a room which is used for the sale or storage, or for the sale and storage, of food contained in containers of such materials, and so closed, as to exclude all risk of contamination, but is not otherwise used for any purpose in connection with the preparation, storage or sale of food. (3) If, in the case of a room to which sub-section (1) applies– (a) any of the requirements of that sub- section are not complied with; (b) any person does or permits any act or thing in contravention of that sub- section, or fails to take all such steps as may be reasonably necessary to prevent risk of contamination of food in the room; or (c) any person prevents the owner of the room from any work 30 necessary to make the room comply with the said requirements, then, in the first-mentioned case, the occupier of the room and, in the other cases mentioned, the person in question, whether he be the occupier or not, commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and to a further fine not exceeding twenty-five dollars for each day during which the offence continues after conviction therefore. (4) If, in the case of a room to which sub-section (1), any of the requirements specified in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) or (f) of that sub-section is not complied with, then, in so far as that requirement is of a structural character, the owner of the room, if he let it for the purpose of being used for the preparation, sale or storage of food or, if not having so let it, he permits it to be so used after receiving notice from the local authority, commits and offence and is liable to the penalty mentioned in sub-section (3), but without prejudice to the liability of the occupier under that sub-section. (5) Where the owner of a room who did not let it for the purpose of being used for the preparation, sale or storage of food executes any work necessary to make the room comply with the requirements of sub-section (1), he may recover the expenses incurred by him in so doing from the occupier of the room summarily as a civil debt. (6) In this section, “room” includes a shop or cellar or any other part of a building, and a shed, store or outbuilding or any part thereof, and this section, except sub-section (1)(a) and (f), shall, so far as applicable, apply in relation to a yard, forecourt or area as they apply in relation to a room. (7) Except in so far as may be expressly provided by Food Regulations, neither this nor section 17 shall apply in relation to premises which are used for the preparation, sale or storage of articles prepared from, or consisting of, materials other than those of animal or vegetable origin, but are not otherwise used for any purpose in connection with the preparation, storage or or sale of ice cream or etc.