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
Islington 1972
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
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MEALS ON WHEELS SERVICE
The closing of 'Hillside' necessitated the Director of Social Services making alternative arrangements
for the "Meals on Wheels" that were prepared there. The senior public health inspector (food) acted in
close consultation with the Director and the Catering Manager to establish a system which provides for the
meals to be produced, transported and delivered at a sufficiently high temperature. The liaison between
departments on this issue has been good and the advice given by the public health inspectorate has been
acted upon.
UNFIT FOOD
During the year the following unfit food was surrendered voluntarily:-
| Tons | Cwts | Qtrs | Lbs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canned Goods | 10 | 6 | 2 | 11 |
| Meat Products | 4 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| Meat | 1 | 13 | 2 | 22 |
| Confectionary | - | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Frozen Food | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Cooked Meats | - | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| Biscuits | - | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| Cereals | - | 2 | - | 9 |
| Fish | - | 1 | - | - |
| Others | - | - | 1 | 5 |
| Total | 17 | 18 | 3 | 2 |
Ice Cream
Beer
2% Gals.
70 Pts.
621 voluntary surrender certificates were issued and 157 inspections or visits were necessary in
connection with this work.
Surrendered food was removed, in general, by the Council and disposed of, under supervision, at a
refuse tip operated by the Greater London Council.
PHARMACY AND POISONS ACT 1933
With the exception of dispensing chemists, shopkeepers who sell certain poisons can only do so if they
are on the local authority's list of authorised sellers. This is designed to ensure that poisons are labelled,
stored and handled correctly and that they are kept away from foodstuffs.
Most products which contain poisons that are listed within Part II of the Poisons Lists are correctly
labelled and properly stored. However, there are a number of products on sale which are not labelled and
which may be Part II poisons. During 1972, six such products were sampled but these were all found to be
correctly labelled or found to contain no poisons given in the list.
There were 88 listed sellers of Part II poisons other than pharmacists, including 2 added during the
year.
GREATER LONDON COUNCIL (GENERAL POWERS) ACT, 1968 PART VIII - NIGHT CAFES
In this borough all premises which are open to serve food and drink after 11 p.m. have to be registered,
subject to certain exceptions, as night cafes. A re-registration of each premises has to be made each year
and this gives the local authority opportunity to review all registrations in force. The inspection of night
cafes has continued, both during normal hours and the night.
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