London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Holborn 1926

Report for the year 1926 of the Medical Officer of Health

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50
house in the neighbourhood; the food and utensils were locked up in a cupboard
when not in use.
On the morning of the 7th May. N.M. opened a 6-lb. tin of corned beef bought
via a retail firm, from wholesalers in the City. The label stated, "Compressed
Corned Beef. Inspected and passed by Department of Agriculture Establishment
1-ARA. Packed in Argentine Republic."

All those who purchased and ate the meat (six in number as in the following table) were taken ill; the meat was eaten at about 10.45 a.m.

They were all taken to hospital.

Age in yearsQuantity of meat eatenTime taken illInitial symptomsDischarged from HospitalReturned to work
lt.J.M. 22(Bread roll &) 1½ ozs.1.45 p.m.Abdominal pain, vomiting, forcible evacuation of bowels8/5/2610/5/26
A.J 34 ozs.2 p.m.Abdominal pain and vomiting9/5/26
K. B.E. 32(Bread roll &) 1½ ozs.,,„ ,, ,,
K. B. 374 ozs.,,„ ,, ,,
H. K. 222 ozs.,,„ ,, ,,
H. C. 16(Bread roll &) 1½ ozs.,,„ ,, ,,8/5/26,,

All the patients had diarrhoea after admission to hospital, but they had all
been given castor oil.
In all probability the corned beef was responsible. All of those who ate it
were ill; some bought corned beef, others bought corned beef made into a sandwich
with bread rolls, but some 60 of these rolls were sold in all and as no one who ate
them without meat suffered they can be ruled out as a cause of the illness.
The bacteriological examination by Dr. Canti at St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
of the meat from the bread roll sandwiches did not find any definite organism which
could be held responsible. A mouse fed (on May 8th) with bread soaked in juice
made from the meat pounded in a pestle suffered no ill effects.
Further bacteriological examinations of two meat rolls were made by a
laboratory on the instance of the wholesalers, but with no definite result.
This, together with the rapid onset of symptoms, would seem to point to the
illnesses being due to the ingestion of toxins. There is no evidence as to how the
meat became affected. The tin opener and knife used to cut the meat were stated
to be clean. The only person to handle the meat, N.M., although she had a "bad
bilious attack" headache at 12 o'clock and vomiting at 3.40 p.m. on Friday,
May 7th, and had been suffering from her "stomach" of late, had not had
diarrhœa. She had not suffered from lyoboid or paratyphoid fe\'er or dysentry or
diarrhœa; no one else in the family had recently been ill
It would seem that the meat was infected with the organisms of food poisoning
at the time of packing and that these were destroyed, leaving the toxins,