Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Bromley]
This page requires JavaScript
91
grease, and insects, nails, part of a cigarette, mouse excreta, and
part of a rodent.
Tinned foodstuffs: Small metal spring, broom bristle, rubber
finger stall, small stone, an insect, and staining from the internal
surfaces of tins.
Pies, sausages, etc.: Small pieces of metal in sausages, bandage
in meat pie, insects, and animal tooth in meat pie.
Milk and milk bottles : Internal stains, cement, fly larvae,
glass.
Chocolate and sugar confectionery: Maggots.
Preserves: Glass in jam.
Cereals: Insects.
Butter : Wire and string.
Cheese: A nail and a fly.
Miscellaneous: Glass in peanut butter, piece of metal in a
steak, maggots in sliced ham and bacon, matchstick in fish cake.
Other conditions consisted of : foul odour in frozen beans,
decomposition of bacon, sour sausages, taste and smell of disinfectant
in milk, abnormal taste in baby food, rusted interior of
can of evaporated milk, and sour milk from a vending machine.
Not all complaints were justified, there were some instances
where the smell, taste or appearance of articles complained of
proved to be natural to the foodstuffs in question.
During 1970 it was found necessary to issue 84 warning letters and to institute proceedings as shown below:—
Fined | Costs | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FC 561 | Chicken and ham pie affected with mould | Retailer | £25 | £5 | ||
FC 515 | Pork pie affected with mould | Retailer | £15 | £8 | ||
FC 468 | Bread contained part of a mouse | Manufacturer | £20 | £5 | 5s. | Od. |
FC 469 | Bread contained piece of paper | Manufacturer | £15 | £8 | 18s. | Od. |
FC 530 | Bread contained insect | Manufacturer | £30 | £15 | 4s. | Od. |
FC 543 | Bread contained part of cigarette | Manufacturer | £40 | £15 | 4s. | Od. |
FC 557 | Fly in bottle of milk | Dairyman | £50 | £10 | 14s. | 6d. |
FC 568 | Dirty milk bottle | Dairyman | £25 | £25 | ||
FC 539 | Wrapped sweets contained maggots | Retailer | £25 | £8 |