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 1906
Fifty-first annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington
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1906] 272
Statement.
Showing the analyses of 5,142 milks examined in Islington during the nine years 1898-1906, and distinguishing those purchased on Sundays, on Weekdays, and procured at the Railway Stations while in transit from the Farmer to the London Milk Purveyor.
| Years. | Sunday Milks. | Week-day Milks. | Railway Milks (Farmers). | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Samples. | Per cent.of non-fatty solids. | Per cent. of fat. | No. of samples. | Per cent. of non-fatty solids. | Per cent. of fat. | No. of samples. | Per cent. of non-fatty solids. | Per cent. of fat. | |
| 1898 | 193 | 8.50 | 3.50 | 230 | 8.56 | 3.69 | 120 | 8.84 | 4.04 |
| 1899 | 181 | 8.49 | 3.50 | 231 | 8.53 | 3.58 | 120 | 3.82 | 4.23 |
| 1900 | 196 | 8.64 | 3.62 | 224 | 8.55 | 3.53 | 121 | 8.75 | 3.93 |
| 1901 | 196 | 8.56 | 3.64 | 295 | 8.60 | 3.49 | 141 | 8.77 | 3.69 |
| 1902 | 192 | 8.59 | 3.60 | 274 | 8.64 | 3.51 | 90 | 8.76 | 3.85 |
| 1903 | 167 | 8.42 | 3.86 | 218 | 8.47 | 3.74 | 120 | 8.66 | 3.90 |
| 1904 | 164 | 8.52 | 3.78 | 317 | 8.48 | 3.74 | 120 | 8.62 | 3.97 |
| 1905 | 161 | 8.55 | 3.68 | 323 | 8.51 | 3.72 | 112 | 8.66 | 3.87 |
| 1906 | 195 | 8.49 | 3.58 | 332 | 8.52 | 3.59 | 110 | 8.75 | 3.69 |
| Nine Years | 1,645 | 8.53 | 3.64 | 2,444 | 8.54 | 3.62 | 1,054 | 8.73 | 3.91 |
From these analyses the following averages are deduced:—
Non-fatty
solids. Fat. Total solids.
1,645 Sunday Milks - 8.53 - 3.64 - 12.17
2,444 Week-day Milks - 8.54 - 3.62 - 12.16
1,054 Farmers' Milk - 8.73 - 3.91 - 12.64
It will be noticed that the analyses of the Sunday milks and the weekday
milks are almost identical and that the farmers' milks show a higher percentage
of non-fatty solids as well as of fat. A calculation based on these
figures indicates that the milks, Sunday and weekday alike, compared with
the farmers' milks, have been adulterated with 2.2 per cent., of added water,
in other words that in every 100 churns 21/5 are water; and that 7.2 per cent.
of the fat or cream has been abstracted. Now a churn of milk contains 16
gallons (together with one quart as allowance for wastage) which is sold for
not less than one shilling a gallon (three half-pence per pint), and as about
750* churns arrive daily, or 273,750 annually, by rail alone in Islington, the
*The M.O.H. has since ascertained that fully 1,000 churns arrive on each weekday and 1,200 on
Sundays.