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
Lewisham 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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66
Adulteration of food
The number of samples taken during the year under the Food
and Drugs Act was 826, of which 1 was a formal sample and 825 informal.
After examination the public analyst reported that 3 of the informal
samples were adulterated or below standard; the percentage of
adulteration amounted to 0.364 in the informal samples, whilst it was
0.363 of all the samples submitted, compared with 0.94 in the previous
year.
The following table gives the groupings and the results of the samples analysed:—
Table 38
| ARTICLES | Examined | Adulterated | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Informal | Formal | Total | Informal | Formal | Total | |||||||||
| W | N | S | W | N | S | W | N | S | W | N | S | |||
| Beverages | 11 | 19 | 19 | 49 | ||||||||||
| Cakes, cake and pudding mixtures, flour | 16 | 20 | 10 | 46 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Cereals, etc | 2 | 13 | 1 | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Condiments and flavourers | 83 | 98 | 62 | 243 | - | - | ||||||||
| Drugs and medicaments | 15 | 52 | 6 | — | — | - | 73 | — | — | — | — | — | - | — |
| Fats | 44 | 47 | 39 | — | - | - | 130 | - | — | — | — | — | - | — |
| Fish | 5 | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | 15 | - | - | - | - | — | - | — |
| Fruit and vegetables | 9 | 10 | 4 | - | — | - | 23 | - | - | - | - | — | - | — |
| Icecream | 13 | 18 | 2 | - | - | - | 33 | - | - | - | - | - | - | — |
| Jams, spreads, pastes | 24 | 20 | 17 | — | — | — | 61 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jellies | 3 | 6 | 3 | — | — | — | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | - | — |
| Preserved meats, sausages, etc | 31 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 40 | 1 | - | 1 | ||||||
| Sugar and confectionery | 9 | 10 | 8 | — | — | — | 27 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| Milk (fresh) | 10 | 2 | 34 | — | — | — | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | - | — |
| Milk (other) | 1 | — | 3 | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | - | — |
| Other foods | 1 | 1 | - | - | — | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | — | - | — |
| Wines, spirits etc | 2 | 4 | — | — | - | - | 6 | — | — | - | - | - | - | — |
| TOTALS | 279 | 326 | 220 | 1 | — | — | 826 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 3 |