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
Wandsworth 1970
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth, Metropolitan Borough]
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Three hundred and twenty-seven food samples were examined bacteriologically at the Public Health Laboratory during the year, and details are given below:—
Milk
The 12 samples of milk submitted to the turbidity test were
reported to be satisfactory.
Ice-cream
The 82 samples of ice-cream were examined at the Public Health
Laboratory by the methylene-blue test. The grading is determined
by the length of time taken to decolourize the methylene-blue,
erade 1 indicating the highest standard bacteriolosiically.
| Grade | Number of Samples |
|---|---|
| 1 | 35 |
| 2 | 21 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 25 |
| Total | 82 |
Imported shell-fish
A total of 230 samples of shell-fish taken from consignments held
in cold storage prior to release to the importer were examined at
the Public Health Laboratory. Two consignments were found to
be unsatisfactory.
Miscellaneous
The three miscellaneous food samples proved to be free from
pathogenic organisms.
Analysis of food and drugs
During the year 1,000 samples of food and drugs were submitted
for analysis; 100 samples of milk, 837 of other foodstuffs
and 63 of drugs. Of these 10 were submitted as formal samples,
while 990 were purchased informally. One of the formal samples
and 75 of the informal samples were found to be adulterated or
below standard, representing 7.6 per cent. of the total samples
submitted.
Details of these 76 samples are given in the Report on the
work of the Public Analyst which follows.