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28
The Chairman and Members of the Public Health Committee.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
FOOD POISONING.
In view of the references which have recently appeared in the
Press regarding an increase in the incidence of food poisoning outbreaks
in this country. I have thought it proper to report to the
Committee on the position in this Borough. Notwithstanding one
or two very mild outbreaks, particulars of which I give later in this
report, I am happy to say that so far Bethnal Green has been
exceptionally free from any very serious outbreak.
Food poisoning, it will be remembered, first became notifiable
under the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1932, and
later the provisions in this Act were re-enacted in the Food and
Drugs Act, 1938, when food poisoning and suspected cases of food
poisoning became notifiable throughout the country.
Since notification became compulsory 17 years ago only 261
cases have been reported. The yearly incidence is shown in the
following table :
1932 — 41 1941 — 4
1933 - 34 1942 — 4
1934 — 25 1943 — 4
1935 — 27 1944 — 5
1936 — 16 1945 — 7
1937 — 29 1946 — 3
1938 — 28 1947 — Nil.
1939 — 13 1948 — 10
1940 — 11
The figures for 1932 include 14 cases which occurred following
a wedding party where the guests had all partaken of a dish containing
chopped liver. The remaining cases occurred singly and
were due to the consumption of a variety of articles. In some