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
Kensington 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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to sell, offer, or expose for sale, or to be in possession for the
purpose of sale or preparation for sale, food intended for human
consumption which is in an unfit condition. Such food can be seized
and taken before a Justice of the Peace who can condemn it, and order
it to be destroyed or disposed of for purposes other than human
consumption.
There was no occasion during 1956 when it was found necessary
to enforce this procedure.
Surrender
Any person having in his possession, food which is diseased,
unsound, or unfit for human consumption can, under Section 180(8) of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, surrender it to the Council for
destruction or other suitable method of disposal.
During the year the following amounts of food were surrendered and condemned as unfit for human consumption :-
| Food | Tons | Cwt. | Qrs. | Lb. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mear (raw) | - | 17 | - | 6 |
| Meat (tinned) | 5 | - | 15 | |
| Ham | 9 | 13 | ||
| Sausages | - | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| Fish (wet and dry) | 1 | 9 | 3 | 21 |
| Dried fruit | 5 | 3 | ||
| Macaroni | — | 1 | ||
| Frozen peas | - | 1 | 7 | |
| Cheese | 2 | 1 | 23 | |
| Marzipan | 1 | 3½ | ||
| TOTAL | 3 | 11 | 2 | 23½ |
| Tins, jars, packets or cartons of fruit, vegetables and miscellaneous foodstuffs 4,912 | ||||
All food condemned as unfit for human consumption is
collected by the Council, taken to their refuse destructor in Wood Lane
and destroyed. In no instance, were large quantities of food involved,
necessitating special examination of stocks of food.
Complaints by purchasers of unfit food
During the year, twenty complaints were received from members
of the public who alleged the unsatisfactory condition of food purchased
by them. The complaints generally related to the presence of foreign
matter in the foods, mouldy conditions of meat pies, bread, etc., and
the unsatisfactory condition of canned foods, chicken, mushrooms, sherry
and other articles.
In three of these cases, it was alleged that the articles
purchased had given rise to illness, such as sickness and diarrhoea, and
special bacteriological and chemical examinations were made. In two
of the cases, the foods complained of, viz. tinned cream and tinned crab
paste respectively, were found to be sterile. The third case was in
respect of flower-scented cachous, whioh were found to contain bismuth,
inadvertently introduced during manufacture} but nevertheless the illness
was not due to this and no action was taken except to notify the