London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1909
Annual report of Medical Officer of Health for 1909
This page requires JavaScript
116
SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACTS.
During the year 1,191 articles of food and drugs were analysed under the
Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1899. Of these, 39, or 3.27 per cent.,
were certified by the Public Analyst to be adulterated*, or not up to
standard, as compared with 6.59 per cent. in 1908.
A summary of the Quarterly Reports made during the year by the Public
Analyst in accordance with the provisions of Section 19 of the Food and
Drugs Act, 1875, is given on pp. 136, 137.
Table I. The figures for the last nine years are here given:—
| Year. | No. of Samples taken. | Found Genuine. | Found Adulterated. | Percentage of Adulterated Samples. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 854 | 742 | 112 | 13.11 |
| 1902 | 1,248 | 1,138 | 110 | 8.89 |
| 1903 | 1,179 | 1,081 | 98 | 8.31 |
| 1904 | 1,035 | 978 | 57 | 5.50 |
| 1905 | 1,102 | 1,040 | 62 | 5.62 |
| 1906 | 1,030 | 962 | 68 | 6.60 |
| 1907 | 1,092 | 1,019 | 73 | 6.68 |
| 1908 | 1,183 | 1,105 | 78 | 6.59 |
| 1909 | 1,191 | 1,153 | 39 | 327 |
| 9,914 | 9,219 | 697 | 7.03 |
Table II. For the purpose of comparison the following Table is given showing the percentage of adulteration in England and Wales since 1877. These figures are abstracted from the Annual Reports of the Local Government Board:—
| Quinquennium 1877-81 | 16.2 |
| „ 1882-86 | 13.9 |
| „ 1887-91 | 11.7 |
| „ 1892-96 | 10.6 |
| „ 1897-1901 | 9.0 |
| „ 1902-1906 | 8.5 |
| Year1907 | 8.1 |
| 1908 | 8.5 |
* Throughout this Report the term "adulterated " includes samples found to be not up to standard.