London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Strand (Westminster) 1896
Annual report on the statistics and sanitary condition relating to Strand District, London for the year 1896
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184
Thus out of 262 samples examined 29 (or 11.06 per
cent.) were found to be adulterated, 6 (or 2.2 per cent.)
were of inferior quality and 71 (or 27.1 per cent.) had
been tampered with in some way, or were of inferior
quality or abnormal composition.
The percentage of adulterated samples is somewhat
higher than that found last year, viz.:—10.7 but the
difference is rather to be traced to the nature of the
samples selected for analysis than to any actual increase
in the extent to which adulteration is practised in
the district.
The following Table II. gives the percentage of
adulterated samples found during each of the last four
years in the Strand District, and for the year 1895-6 (the
most recent for which statistics are obtainable) in the
Metropolis and England and Wales.
TABLE II.
| Strand District. | Metropolis | England and Wales. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1892-3. | 1893-4. | 1894-5. | 1895-6. | 1896-7. | 1895-6. | 1895-6. | |
| Genuine | 68 | 887 | 90.3 | 89.3 | 89.0 | 86.9 | 90.7 |
| Adulterated | 32 | 11.3 | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.0 | 13.1 | 9.3 |
The two articles most tampered with are milk and
spirits. With one exception, the offences were only
of a comparatively trivial nature.
The following table III. shows the extent to which
milk was adulterated.