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38
Pharmacy and Poisons Act, 1933.
At the end of the year the number entered on the List of Persons
entitled to sell poisons included in Part II of the Poisons List was 167.
During the year 14 persons had been removed from the List, because they
were no longer in business or had moved out of the City, and 11 new
applicants had been duly entered on the List.

Food Poisoning.
During the year 15 incidents of food poisoning occurred in the City.
In 9 of the outbreaks only one or two people were affected, but nevertheless
thorough investigations as to the cause were made in each.
The other 6 outbreaks affected larger numbers of people, and the
following details are given in regard to these particular incidents.
Unfortunately, delay often occurs before any notification is received.
During this interval, any remainder of the meal is usually thrown away
and the patient becomes well again, so that no specimens of vomit and
other discharges can be obtained.
Here are notes of six outbreaks which indicate some of the difficulties
encountered in trying to trace the causes of food poisoning.
(1) This outbreak involved some 95 people who had partaken of
lunch in a staff canteen in the City. The suspected food was the meat
pudding prepared at the canteen the evening before. A specimen of
this meat was recovered and submitted for bacteriological examination.
Fifteen stool specimens were submitted from various persons, but these
were only obtained after the persons concerned had recovered from the
illness. Four members of the kitchen staff were swabbed in an effort to
isolate the possible cause. In all cases the specimens failed to show