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49
A quantity of flour from France is imported into this country annually, and
I deemed it advisable to take samples of such flour with a view to the same
being submitted to chemical analysis.
Two samples were accordingly analysed by Dr. Teed, the City Analyst, who
reported that both were samples of genuine flour.
On July 16th, a Food Inspector, on visiting Tilbury Docks, ascertained that
about 500 carcases of lamb had been discharged from a ship early in the
morning and forwarded to London, and that the condition of the meat was not
quite satisfactory. He telephoned the information to me, giving the address to
which the meat had been sent. I telephoned to the Medical Officer of Health for
that district, and he sent an inspector to the address given, and whilst there, the
consignment arrived.
The condition of the meat was such that 143 carcases were found to be quite
unsound, and unfit for the food of man.
There is but little doubt that this consignment was landed and quickly sent to
London with a view to escaping inspection and action by the Food Inspector
of the Port Sanitary Authority.
The matter was taken up with the Dock Company, and the Manager has
written saying that on behalf of the Dock Company "I have to assure you
that the matter shall receive special attention in future, with a view to
preventing the recurrence of an incident such as that about which your
complaint was made."
I have also made arrangements for an Inspector to be in attendance
whenever meat is being discharged from vessels lying in the Tilbury Dock.
On the 19th July, one of the Food Inspectors examined one of a number of
cases of tinned sausages, which had been discharged into a lighter bound for a
riverside wharf. The goods were "returned" from Malta, and the result of
the examination was such as to arouse suspicion as to the condition of the
whole consignment. Further examination was impossible on the spot as the
goods were in actual transit, in fact leaving the dock at the time. Their
destination being known, the local authority was communicated with. Meanwhile
the goods reached the wharf, where they were merely re-addressed and
returned to the original packers "for examination as to the cause of damage."
The packers were a well-known firm in the South of England.
I communicated with the Medical Officer of Health of the district concerned,
and I learn that on arrival the consignment was examined, with the result that
three-fourths of the whole quantity was condemned as unfit for food, and
destroyed. The remainder, from external appearance and examination of a
few tins, was claimed by the packers as perfectly sound, but in the end they
consented to the destruction of the whole lot.