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10001 8fiO
INSPECTION OK FOOD.
The revelations in the public press respecting the canning industries of
the United States, especially in Chicago, naturally caused a very great alarm
throughout the United Kingdom, because this country consumes a very great
quantity of the canned goods prepared in that country, and at the first meeting
of the Council after the revelations were made, the Medical Officer of Health
made the following statements
" I am glad of an opportunity of being able to say that there is nothing in
Islington, so far as can be discovered, w hich would cause any uneasiness to the
public mind.
" So far as tinned or canned goods are concerned, I may state that there is
power to inspect or seize any food products, whether canned or not, which
might be open to suspicion, but it must be clear to the average mind that it
would be almost impossible for an Inspector to enter a shop where these goods
are sold and to demand that he should be allowed to open them for examination
unless he had the very greatest reason for supposing that they were
unsound. Nearly all kinds of food products in an unsound state are from time
to time brought to me by the public when they think they have been sold
something that was unsound or unwholesome, but it is a strange fact that
during 14 years I can only bring to mind one instance in which canned meat
was brought to the office for examination.
" This seems to show that there has not been much unsound meat of this
character sold in the Borough.
" With respect to the canned goods manufactured in Islington, I may point
out that the trade is practically confined to three firms, two of whom are in a
comparatively small way of business. Their premises arc regularly visited, at
least once a fortnight, and in no instance have they been discovered preparing
food that was unfit for human consumption, and I may add that their trade
has been conducted under the most cleanly conditions. There are also 4
places in which tripe is prepared, and these have been inspected once in every
two or three weeks throughout the year. The proprietors of these places take
the greatest care as to the character of the food they deal in, and during last
year one of them, not thinking it quite up to the mark, sent for the Meat
Inspector to ask him his opinion as to its soundness.
" Samples of Lard have been from time to time examined analytically in
the Borough, but they have invariably been found to be pure. Chemical
analysis, however, cannot show whether it was the product of diseased animals,