Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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73
E.—Food Supply.
The food exposed for sale in shops and on stalls in the street markets
has been regularly inspected every day (including Sundays). The
following list shows the quantity of food condemned and destroyed
during the year. The bulk of it was submitted by the owners or
purchasers for the opinion of your officers:—
Tons. | Cwts. | Lbs. | Tons. | Cwts. | Lbs. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apples | 7 | 10 | 28 | Limes | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Asparagus | 0 | 0 | 60 | Melons | 0 | 6 | 38 |
Bananas | 30 | 4 | 0 | Mushrooms | 0 | 0 | 12 |
Beans | 0 | 4 | 14 | Peaches | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Cauliflowers | 0 | 7 | 56 | Pears | 0 | 12 | 0 |
Cherries | 8 | 0 | 74 | Plums | 1 | 41 | 80 |
Currants, White | 0 | 2 | 0 | Pineapples | 4 | 10 | 80 |
Damsons | 0 | 26 | 28 | Potatoes | 9 | 4 | 0 |
Figs, Green | 0 | 0 | 17 | Raspberries | 0 | 6 | 52 |
Grapes | 0 | 0 | 36 | Strawberries | 0 | 7 | 84 |
Lemons | 0 | 1 | 28 | Tomatoes | 10 | 7 | 30 |
Lettuces | 4 | 10 | 64 | ||||
Lobsters, 74; Fish (various), 5 cwts. 81 lbs.; Fish (tinned), 24 tins; one sheep's |
Articles of Food Seized.
Milk, separated About 1½ gallons
Pigs, carcases, unsound Two
Milk unfit for Food.—On the 24th September Inspector McNair saw
Edward Hughes, of 6, Shard Square, S.E., hawking milk in a hand-can
in Earl Street. He found that he had also a churn on a barrow with
about an imperial gallon of milk in it. The milk had a quantity of
sooty particles floating on the surface, and a considerable quantity of
filthy-looking matter in the bottom layers. The Inspector having
informed me, I examined and condemned the milk as unfit for human
consumption, and directed him to take it before the Magistrate, who
ordered its destruction. A sample was taken, and after standing a few
hours the milk gave off an offensive smell. The sediment, on microscopical
examination, was found to consist of vegetable and other debris.
fine grit, hairs, fibres of clothing, &c.
The process by which the cream is separated results in a considerable
proportion of the impurities being removed, presumably,
therefore, the contamination found in this milk must have occurred
subsequently. The nature of the sediment suggested the street or a
stable yard as its source, and possibly it may have been introduced by
the dipping in the churn of the hand-can from which the milk was