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10
Only children who had the school meal were affected and not everyone
who partook of the meal developed symptoms.
The Tuesday mid-day meal consisted of:—
Boiled pork, Pease-pudding,
Mixed vegetables and
Mashed potatoes, followed by
Apple and Sultana tart and custard.
There was no alternative menu and the only variation was the sweet
with, or without custard, which did not however appear to affect the
incidence of the symptoms.
The food was cooked not more than two hours before its arrival at
the School. It was cooked at Ilderton Road School and carried in
insulated containers.
The kitchen was inspected at Ilderton Road and no fault could be
found that would in any way account for the outbreak. Although the
kitchen had been used to prepare the food for three schools, only the
pupils of St. James' were affected.
The meal was served at St. James' with crockery and cutlery that was
washed and stored on the premises. A boiler was used to provide the
hot water and to supplement a very small gas water heater over the one
sink. There seems to be some doubt as to whether the washing up
water could ever be heated to the recommended 170° F. Although it is
not suggested that faulty washing up was responsible for this outbreak,
the two-sink method would be an advantage and the use of a chemical
sterilizing agent might be more reliable than the present system which
relies solely upon hot water.
Faeces samples were taken on 26th September, 1952, from five
convalescent patients, the staff of Ilderton Road kitchen and the staff
responsible for serving and washing up at St. James' School. All these
samples gave negative results.
Needless to say by the time the symptoms had commenced no food
was left for bacteriological examination.
It can only be concluded that this was a small food poisoning outbreak
of unknown origin.