London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wandsworth 1950
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
35
REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ANALYST FOR 1950
By virtue of the requirements of the Food and Drugs Act,
1938, we have to report that 1,877 samples were examined by us
under the Act during the year ended 31st December, 1950. 1,723
articles of food and 154 drugs. All were submitted by your
Council's Food Inspector, 547 having been taken with the formalities
required by the Act and 1,330 informally.
Samples of the following substances were analysed: bacon
18 samples; biscuits 11; butter 43; cakes 30; cake and pudding
mixtures 21; cereals 39; cheese 31; fish, canned, 39; icocream 61;
jam and marmalade 17; lard and cooking fat 41; margarine 41;
meat products 34; milk 685; pickles and sauces 33; potato crisps 8;
spices and condiments 41; sugar 41; tea 41; vegetables, canned, 22.
Particulars of the samples reported as adulterated are given in the following table:
| Case No. | Nature of Sample | Nature of Report |
|---|---|---|
| Formal 827 | Condiment Vinegar | 23% deficient in acetic acid |
| Informal 28 | Tincture of Iodine | 40% deficient in potassium iodide. This sample was correctly prepared according to the British Pharmacopoeia 1932, which was revised in 1948. |
| 54 | White Pepper | Contained elements of black pepper. |
| 618 | Ammoniated Tincture of Quinine | 25% deficient in ammonia. |
| 687 | Ammoniated Tincture of Quinine | 14% deficient in ammonia. |
| 783 | Ammoniated Tincture of Quinine | 30% deficient in ammonia. |
| 787 | Ammoniated Tincture of Quinine | 20% deficient in ammonia. |
| 812 | Rice | 0.36% of foreign matter was found to be present. |
| 893 | Condiment Vineger | 40% deficient in acetic acid. |
| 903 | Cooking Fat | 2.1% water was present. |
| 957 | Malted Milk | It was unable to reconstitute the product, which was old stock. |
| 1145 | Sherbet | Contained magnesium carbonate and made an alkaline, instead of an acid, beverage. |