London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1929
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
69
[1929
hospital were not satisfied as to the cause of death and an inquest was ordered.
When making enquiries into the alleged food poisoning, the Sanitary Inspector
was able to elicit that the mother had asked for grey powder tablets at St.
Bartholomew's Hospital and had received them. When pressed she admitted
thev had been given to the child to hold and that the tablets could not be found.
We were able to put this aspect of the case before the Coroner, and the postmortem
by Sir Bernard Spilsbury confirmed that the child had died from mercurial
poisoning. The evidence left the impression that the relatives had given the
information about food and sickness, but had omitted until it was discovered by
our department all reference to the grey powder tablets, which undoubtedly the
child had taken as if they were sweets.
Shops, etc., Inspection of.— The 726 shops and places where foodstuffs
are sold may be approximated for the year as follows:—
Butchers, provision dealers, etc., shops, 254; meat, provisions, rabbits, tinned
foods, etc., stalls, 30; food preparation establishments, 12; fish shops, 114; fish
stalls, 14; fruit shops, 220; and about 105 fruit, etc., stalls and barrows, including
stalls in the Metropolitan Cattle Market inspected on Tuesdays and Fridays. To
these 25,789 visits were paid, apportioned as follows: —
Butchers, Provision Dealers, etc., Shops 8,544 visits
Food Preparation Establishments 156 ,,
Butcher, Provision, etc., Stalls 2,096 „
Fish Shops 1,526 ,,
Fish Stalls 820 ,,
Fruit Shops 4,082 ,,
Fruit Stalls 8,565 „
Total 25,739 „
No summonses were taken out under Sec. 47 of the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891, during the year.
Restaurant Kitchens.— The work of inspecting restaurant kitchens is
tabulated under Workshops. This work is done by the two women inspectors,
whose work was reviewed fully in the Report of 1926, p. 58.
The following is a tabulated statement of the premises examined, and the results. In each case the unsatisfactory conditions were remedied without having to resort to prosecution.
| Number Inspected. | Number found Unsatisfactory. | |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel and Restaurant Kitchens | 65 | 20 |
| Coffee and Dining Rooms | 187 | 50 |
| Refreshment Rooms | 105 | 36 |
| Provision (Cooked Meats, cooked but not consumed on premises) | 92 | 22 |
| 449 | 128 |
SALE OF FOOD ORDER, 1921— LABELLING OF MEAT.
At the request of the Public Health Committee an inquiry was made to ascertain
the practice of the several Metropolitan Boroughs with regard to the enforcement
of the labelling of imported produce under Part 3 of the Sale of Food Order,
1921, which was still in force. The information desired was as to the amount of