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
Islington 1905
Fiftieth annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington
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241
[1905
The knacker's yard, whose licence has been repeatedly opposed during recent years by
the officials of the London County Council, and has only been renewed each year on the
understanding that the whole of the plant would be replaced by the closed chamber system,
is still carried on unaltered, and although a very large number of horses have been disposed
of during the past year, it is most satisfactory to report that no complaints have been received
in regard thereto, and that my inspections have not discovered any grounds for complaint.
Summary of foodstuffs destroyed during the year :—
| Cwts. | Qrs | Lbs. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diseased meat and organs from slaughter-houses | 14 | 3 | 3 |
| Unsound meat, etc., from shops | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 39 ox tongues, unsound (surrendered) | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| Unsound fish (surrendered) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 71 turkeys, unsound (surrendered) | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Tripe, unsound (surrendered) | 7 | 0 | 16 |
| Unsound meat (seized) | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 fowls (seized) | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Diseased meat from shops | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Unsound fruit | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| Ton | 1 11 | 1 |
I am, Sir,
Yours obediently,
H. WILKINSON,
Meat Inspector, etc.
Milkshops and Dairies.—There are at present on the register 716
milkshops, and these received 1,071 visits from the district inspectors. For
the most part they are ordinary general dealers and are not specially fitted
up, as by their name one would expect, for the sale of milk.
The conditions under which milk is permitted to be sold in this country
are far from good, because the regulations are not wide enough to ensure that
reasonable precautions are taken to prevent its contamination. Milk, of all
foods, requires to be kept in a cool, well ventilated, and clean place, the walls
of which are smooth, impervious, and easily cleansed, so that there may be no
places on which dust may accumulate. But how different are the conditions that
we find ! There is hardly a shop in which milk is sold in which may not also
be found candles, soap, bacon, cheese and other articles with a more or less
pronounced flavour or smell of their own which may affect it.
A law confining the sale of milk to properly constructed dairies would be
of the utmost advantage to public health.
B