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
Fulham 1951
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Fulham Borough]
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(47)
FOOD & DRUGS ACTS. 1938 - 1950.
During the year under review one thousand samples of food and drugs
purchased by the Sampling Officer were submitted to the Council's Public
Analyst for chemical analysis.
The samples, which are taken under the various Acts,Orders and Regulations
relating to foodstuffs, are divided into two classes, viz:-
(a) formal samples, or those in the purchase of which the legal
procedure laid down in the Food & Drugs Act 1938, relating
to declaration of identity,division into three parts,sealing
etc. of the sample is carried out.In these cases legal
proceedings can be instituted when the samples are certified
to be adulterated;
(b) informal samples, which are samples purchased without carrying
out the legal formalities and merely serve to indicate
the conditions obtaining without disclosing to the
vendor the object of the purchase.
Adverse reports were received from the Public Analyst on forty-two
or 4.2% of the samples examined and in only one instance were legal proceedings
instituted, viz:-
| Sample No. | Article | Result of Analysis | Result of Proceedings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 59 | Grilled Steak (Private sample) | Certified to be horseflesh. | Summons dis-missed. |
The following are details of the forty-one articles which were re-ported to be not in accordance with accepted standards and the action taken:-
| Sample No. | Article | Result of Analysis | Result of Proceedings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Artificial Cream powder | Not artificial cream | Referred to Min-istry of Food |
| 17 | Fizzade Dabs | Did not effer-vesce. Strongly alkaline.Yellow colouring pre-sent but not declared on label. | Taken up with manufacturers. |