View report page

Unsound Food.—The following articles
condemned as unfit for food:—
Bananas, 2 tons 13 cwts.
Tomatoes, 17 cwts.
have been submitted for inspection and
Oranges, 3 cwts.
Fish (wet), 4 cwts. 56 lbs.
Local Government Board Reports.—The Board has adopted the excellent practice
of issuing special reports on matters connected with food. Recently two have
been published. One by Dr. McFadden, with regard to the wholesomeness of tripe of
home and foreign origin. From what he has seen of the dressing of fresh tripe in
London and Lancashire, where the demand is large, the conditions of manufacture
appear to be generally wholesome and cleanly, though he met with some conditions of
storage of tripe in London which called for improvement. Cooked American keg tripe,
however, Dr. MacFadden places in a separate category in the matter of wholesomeness.
The objections to that form of tripe, from a public health point of view, is the habitual
presence of boron preservative in quantities which of themselves constitute a risk to the
health of the consumer. There is the further risk, incidental to the use of preservatives,
that much decomposition may at times have actually taken place and be so hidden by
the preservative that the consumer is unable to detect it by ordinary means.
The second report is by Dr. J. M. Hamill, on the preparation and sale of vinegar
in relation to the administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. More satisfactory
and accurate descriptions of vinegars are desirable in the interests of the consumer and
of satisfactory trading. In present circumstances, however, comparatively little can be
effected in this direction by public authorities. Still, there are certain matters in which
it appears practicable for authorities under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts in present
circumstances to take action in the interests of the vinegar consumer. Vinegar is, it is
pointed out, liable to take up metallic impurities, including copper, from the plant used
in its preparation, and contamination by arsenic may occur under certain conditions.
Any indication of the formation of Prussian biue in a vinegar or pickle which has been
clarified by the use of ferrocyanide of potassium should be regarded with suspicion.
February, 1908.
I have the honour to be,
Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
FRANCIS J. ALLAN,
ATedical Officer of Health for the City.