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1908]
248
INSPECTION OF FOOD.
The inspection of food, especially of meat foods, is an important duty of
all sanitary authorities, which in Islington is undertaken by a special food
inspector, who, a butcher by trade, possesses the necessary qualifications for
the duty. The district inspectors, some of whom hold the special food certificate
of the Sanitary Institute, are also expected to seize and prevent the sale of
unsound food of all descriptions which they may come across, while in the case
of diseased meat they are at once to call the attention of the Medical Officer of
Health or the Food Inspector to it, for reasons detailed in the last Annual
Report (p. 246).
Unsound Food.—The amount of food surrendered or seized and condemned
during the year amounted to 5 tons 17 cwt., 1 qr. 22 lbs., as compared
with 2 tons 1 cwt. 0 qr. 9 lbs. in 1907, and with 2 tons 1 cwt. 1 qr. 2 lbs. in 1906.
The increase in the amount condemned was due chiefly to the seizure of 2 tons
3 cwt. of unsound tinned foods which were found in a canning works at King's
Cross. This seizure was the subject of legal proceedings, during which the
defendents showed that they did not intend to sell the food for human consumption,
and therefore the summons was dismissed, but no costs were allowed.
Inspection of Street Markets.—These are inspected regularly by
the Meat Inspector, and on Saturday nights they are also inspected by seven of
the fourteen district inspectors, each being responsible for two districts.
Unsound Fish.—Occasionally costers bring fish to the Town Hall
for examination when, on opening the trunks or boxes in which they are
packed, they have found the contents to be unsound. They are then given a
certificate stating the hour at which it was examined and the state it was in, so
as to enable them to obtain the return of the money which they had paid for the
fish, which is of course removed to the manure depot or to the crematory at the
disinfecting station for destruction.