Economic and financial section > Problem of nutrition

which is a purely technical organisation, is a centre for study and
research, and also for the checking of disputed analyses of the provincial
Laboratories of Public Health and Prophylaxy.
The local organisation is similar to the central organisation. In each
province there is a provincial medical officer and a provincial veterinary
officer, both of whom are directly under the Prefect ; and in each
commune there is a public health officer, assisted where necessary
by other officials, medical and veterinary officers, and chemists, all of
whom are directly under the Podesta (Mayor).
In divisions of communes which the public health officer cannot
cover, his powers are exercised by the local medical officer under the
instructions of the Podesta.
Each province has also a Provincial Laboratory of Public Health
and Prophylaxy organised on the lines of the Public Health Institute
—i.e., on a purely technical basis. These laboratories serve as research
centres, and also undertake analyses as required by the provincial
and communal public health authorities.
The supervision of the hygienic quality of foodstuffs thus operates
from the centre through the provincial public health authorities down
to the most remote and distant communes and villages.
Public Health Officers.
The public health officers constitute the basis of the organisation
for health supervision, and their powers in regard to the hygiene of
foodstuffs are extensive.
Directly or through the staff under them, they supervise the production
and sale of foodstuffs. They keep a watch on the health of the staff
employed in the manufacture and sale of foodstuffs by periodical visits
of inspection. They propose to the Podesta the measures required for
the production of hygienic food conditions, and it is their duty to
inform the provincial medical officer of health of any circumstances of
a serious character.
Provincial Laboratories of Public Health.
The public health officers are assisted in their work by the Provincial
Laboratories of Public Health and Prophylaxy. The latter are organised
on wholly up-to-date lines, and represent one of the most important
achievements of the Fascist regime in the matter of public health and
the hygiene of food in particular.
These laboratories have bateriological and chemical departments
through which they are in a position to check the hygienic condition
of foodstuffs on strictly scientific lines, and to bring to light any
adulteration made possible by the development of technical science.