View report page

87
the hope that the methods of inspection may be improved, and the
attention of the Local Government Board has also been drawn to the
matter.
The Local Government Board have advised that when a part of a
pig is affected with tuberculosis the whole carcase should be destroyed,
on account of the rapidity with which the tubercle organism permeates
the system, but it has been alleged by various witnesses in cases which
have been tried that in some markets this advice is not acted upon. As
the recommendation of the Local Government Board has the support of
the highest veterinary authorities, butchers should be careful not to
purchase a pig's carcase which has had the head removed.
Food Poisoning.—The Local Government Board have issued a
Memorandum on the investigation of outbreaks of illness suspected to
be due to food poisoning. The Memorandum suggests that in any
outbreak where the implicated food has been prepared in the district, it
is advisable that as soon as the Medical Officer of Health has established
the probability that a particular food is at fault, he should at once
proceed to make detailed investigation into the conditions of its
preparation and obtain materials for chemical or bacteriological
examination. The difficulty in carrying out such an enquiry is
that the information does not reach the Medical Officer early
enough. Thus recently several members of a family were rendered
seriously ill through eating cooked pressed beef covered with jelly,
but no complaint was made to me until five days after, by which
time it would have been useless to have made a bacteriological
examination of a fragment of meat which remained. Enquiry into the
circunrstances failed to discover when and where the meat became
infected—possibly it occurred after it was purchased. In another ease
twelve waiters were alleged to have been made ill through eating
shrimps, but the information did not reach me till a month afterwards,
when one of them was found to have typhoid fever. In a third instance
a custard which had been kept in a warm kitchen for two days was
submitted, as on tasting it it was found to be intensely bitter. Dr.
Bernstein examined it, and reported that it was odorous and contained
bacilli, some motile, spores and yeasts. Cultures yielded various
organisms, including some indistinguishable from B. coli, B. enteritides
sporogenes and a proteus organism.
The importance of washing vegetables before they are eaten is
generally recognised, but fruit is seldom treated in the same way. It is
frequently exposed on stalls and open shop windows, and in dusty
weather may easily be contaminated with germs which may cause
diarrhoea and vomiting in consumers.