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119
This section does not apply to any premises
used as a club, hotel or restaurant.
At the end of the year there were 86 premises
on the Register.
Unsound Food. The undermentioned articles
of food, examined at the request of the owners,
were condemned and destroyed during the year:
12 lbs. corned beef.
80 boxes Apples.
25 stone Whiting.
21 lbs. Rabbits.
¾ cwt. Peas.
Food Poisoning.
Under section 7 of the London County Council
(General Powers) Act, 1932, medical practitioners
are required to notify all cases of food poisoning,
whether suspected or definite cases, to the Medical
Officer of Health of the Metropolitan Borough in
which the patient resides. At one time ptomaines
(substances produced by the decomposition of the
protein in the food through the agency of bacillus
coli and other putrefactive organisms) were supposed
to cause food poisoning but there is no
evidence that this is the case, and it is now
known that food poisoning is most commonly
caused by the Salmonella group of bacteria and
their toxins, which produce an acute inflamation
of the stomach and intestines. The illness commences
several hours after food and is usually
characterised by vomiting, purging, colicky pains
in the abdomen and other symptoms.
In order to verify the diagnosis either bacteriological
examination of the intestinal evacuations
or vomited matter, or examination of the blood is
necessary. In mild cases the diagnosis is often
made on clinical evidence but this cannot be
relied on unless supported by laboratory examination.
A difficulty with which doctors have to