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
City of Westminster 1951
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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39
Pharmacy and Poisons Act, 1933.
At the end of the year the number entered on the List of Persons
entitled to sell poisons included in Part II of the Poisons List was 170.
During the year 4 persons had been removed from the list because they
were no longer in business or had moved out of the City, and 7 new
applicants had been duly entered on the list.
Unsound Food. tde following table shows tde amount, and metdod o' disposal, of food condemned by tde inspectors as unfit for human consumption during tde year 1951:—
| Articles. | Amount Destroyed. | Amount Salvaged. | Total. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tons | Cwt | Lb. | Tons | Cwt | Lb. | Tons | Cwt | Lb. | |
| Canned food | 30 | 13 | 62 | 6 | 7 | 50 | 37 | 1 | 0 |
| Meat | 1 | 0 | 106 | — | 2 | 107 | 1 | 3 | 101 |
| Fats | — | — | 6 | — | 1 | 88 | — | 1 | 94 |
| Fruit and vegetables | 149 | 13 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 149 | 15 | 21 | |
| Fish | 1 | 3 | 79 | — | — | — | 1 | 3 | 79 |
| Cereals | — | 2 | 41 | — | 8 | 75 | — | 11 | 4 |
| Confectionery | — | 1 | 48 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 48 |
| Miscellaneous | — | 7 | 82 | 1 | 12 | 105 | 2 | 0 | 75 |
| Total | 183 | 2 | 109 | 8 | 17 | 89 | 192 | 0 | 86 |
Food Poisoning.
A total of 19 outbreaks of food poisoning occurred in the City during
the year. Of this number, 10 concerned single cases, and despite the
most complete investigations, in only two cases was it possible to identify
the causative agent.
Of the other 9 outbreaks concerning groups of individuals, the causative
agent was traced in 5 instances. Details of these 9 are as follows:—
(1) An outbreak involving some 42 men occurred in a Police Section
House. The onset was characterised by abdominal pain and bloodstained
loose motions. They were suffering from Sonne Dysentery and
in 10 cases the organism was recovered. Similar specimens were collected
from members of the kitchen staff, comprising 13 in number, but proved
negative, nor could any dysentery organism be recovered from samples
of suspected food.
(2) Two families in Pimlico were affected by the consumption of
ham and jellied veal purchased on the same day at a branch shop of
a large chain of grocery and provision merchants. The total number
of persons affected was 8 and 2 of these were sufficiently affected to
require removal to hospital. Specimens of vomit and faeces, and the