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
Islington 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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280
1912]
Analyst during the year, and of these 65, or 7.2 per cent., were adulterated,
as compared with 8.4 per cent. in the preceding year.
Since 1905 the percentages of these foods found to be adulterated were as follows:—
| Samples. | Adulterated. | Percentage Adulterated in 1912. | Percentage Adulterated in 1911. | Percentage Adulterated in 1910. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milk | 604 | 33 | 5.4 | 9-8 | 9.3 | |
| Milk (Separated) | 2 | |||||
| Butter | 200 | 7 | 3.5 | 5'° | 5.0 | |
| Margarine | 40 | 25 | 62.5 | 17-5 | 70.0 | |
| Cheese | 40 | |||||
| Lard | 19 | |||||
| Nut Lard | 1 | |||||
| 906 | 65 | 00 | 10.2 | |||
Milk.— 606 samples were purchased or procured for analysis by the Public
Analyst, of which 33, or 5.4 per cent. were adulterated. This is the smallest
percentage of adulteration which has hitherto been recorded in the Borough
with respect to milk. Indeed, it is only slightly more than half the percentage
that had obtained from 1902 to 1911. The Medical Officer of Health does not,
however, think that the actual adulteration is anything less than it has hitherto
been, but that the vendors who resort to adulteration are more careful than
they used to be in former years. They adulterate to-day, not with chalk and
water, but with a by-product of the butter and cream trade, viz.:—separated
milk, which, in all probability, would otherwise become waste matter, or in
some country districts where pigs are bred, used as a food for them. There