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114
It will be noticed that with regard to the percentage of adulteration
estimated on the whole number of milk samples in each
borough, Finsbury is seventeenth on the list. The boroughs
which precede it and their corresponding adulteration percentages
are Shoreditch (22.4), Stoke Newington (17.5), Paddington
(17.5), Stepney (14.0), Wandsworth (13.6), Bethnal Green (12.0),
Lambeth (12.0), Westminster (11.6), Hammersmith (11.1);
Kensington (10.9), St. Pancras (10.0), Lewisham (9.8), Battersea
(8.9), Deptford (8.8), Bermondsey (8.5), Hackney (8.4). The
percentage in Finsbury was 7.5.
Milk Samples and Analyses—The total number of milk
samples taken in 1913 was 360, of which 26 or 7.2 per cent, were
found to be adulterated on the standard adopted by the Board of
Agriculture—that is not less than 8.5 per cent, of non-fatty solids,
and not less than 3.0 per cent of fat. The percentage of
adulteration is the lowest yet recorded for the borough. No
preservatives were found in any of the samples. No samples of
cream were submitted to the Finsbury Public Analyst in 1913.
The sale of cream has almost ceased in the borough save in a
few restaurants, where it is supplied with fruit for consumption
on the premises. On January 3rd, 1913, many samples of milk
supplied by one of the largest firms in London were reported to
smell very offensively, and some were brought to the Public
Health Department by purchasers. They were sent to the
Public Analyst, who reported that the offensive smell was due to
the presence of Ammonium Sulphide. The milks contained 3.66
per cent, of fat and 9.28 per cent, of non-fatty solids, and were
from this standpoint of excellent quality. The fouled milk was
confined to the district supplied on the round of one milk carrier.
Some was sent for bacteriological examination, and was found
to contain Bacillus Coli in one thousandth of a cubic centimetre.
Bacteriologically the milk was very unsatisfactory. The presence
of the ammoium sulphide was surmised to be due to some
malicious practical joker who had dropped the contents of a
"stink bomb" into the churn when it was left unguarded during
the time the milk carrier was on his round. These "stink
bombs" contain ammonium sulphide, and may be purchased at
most toy shops for a few pence.